w^r 


»®Sa.^» 


BV  113  .P75 

Prize  essays  on  the  tempora 
advantages  of  the  Sabbath, 


FRONTISPIECE  TO  HEAVEN'S  ANTIDOTE. 

"The  chiming  bells  are  calling  upon  all  men  to  cut  the  cords  of  their  earth- 
bound  thoughts,  and  go  up  to  worship  at  the  footstool  of  Jehovah."— -Sfee  i^i^e  16- 


PRIZE   ESSAYS 

ON 

THE   TEMPORAL   ADVANTAGES 

OF 

THE   SABBATH, 

CONSIDERED    IN    RELATION    TO    THE    WORKING 
CLASSES. 

CONTAINING 

HEAVEN'S  ANTIDOTE,  THE  TORCH  OF  TIME, 
AND   THE  PEARL  OF   DAYS. 

PHILADELPHIA : 

PRESBYTERIAN  BOARD  OF  PUBLICATION, 

No.  265  CHESTNUT   STREET. 

Stereotyped  byWM.  S.  Slote,  No.  19  St.  James'  Street, 
Philadelphia. 


PREFATORY   NOTICE. 


The  remarkable  essays  embodied  in  this  volume  were  called 
forth  by  the  offer  of  prizes  for  the  three  best  essays  on  the 
temporal  advantages  of  the  Christian  Sabbath  to  the  la- 
bouring classes,  by  competitors  from  among  the  working 
men  in  Great  Britain.  Out  of  a  large  mass  of  manuscripts, 
three  were  selected  by  an  impartial  committee,  and  to  the 
writers  of  them  the  prizes  were  adjudged.  The  first  and 
third  of  these  are  here  republished,  and  in  place  of  the  se- 
cond, which  is  regarded  as  of  inferior  literary  merit  to  the 
other  two,  another  remarkable  essay,  entitled  "The  Pearl 
of  Days,"  written  by  a  female  in  humble  life,  has  been  sub- 
stituted. As  the  productions  of  labouring  men  were  exclu- 
sively contemplated  in  the  offered  prizes,  this  essay,  admi- 
rable as  it  is  in  all  respects,  was  not  regarded  by  the  com- 
mittee as  coming  within  the  field  of  competition,  but  was 
highly  applauded  and  recommended  for  separate  publica- 
tion for  the  author's  benefit.  The  three  essays,  as  here 
associated,  will  not  be  read  merely  as  literary  curiosities, 
proceeding  as  they  do  from  persons  of  humble  education 
and  without  any  pretensions  as  professed  authors,  but  will 
be  esteemed  for  the  solidity  of  their  reasoning  and  for  the 


111 


IV  PREFATORY      NOTICE. 

impressive  force  with  which  they  plead  for  a  sacred  ob- 
servance of  the  Lord's  day.  They  are  as  much  needed  in 
this  country  as  in  Great  Britain,  and  the  friends  of  rehgion 
and  good  order  will  hail  their  reproduction  here  at  a  time 
when  the  temptations  to  Sabbath  desecration  are  so  multi- 
plied, and  the  moral  sense  of  the  community  on  the  general 
subject  is  far  from  being  in  a  healthy  state. 

For  the  appearance  of  this  volume,  and  the  handsome 
style  in  which  it  is  published,  the  public  is  indebted  to  a 
generous  individual  who  has  made  a  special  donation  to  the 
Presbyterian  Board  of  Publication  for  this  purpose,  and 
who  seeks  occasions  for  manifesting  his  solicitude  for  the 
diffusion  of  those  elevated  moral  principles  which  are  at 
once  the  glory  and  safety  of  a  nation. — Editor  of  the 
Board  of  Publication. 


HEAVEN'S  ANTIDOTE 


CURSE  or  LABOUR 


OR 


THE  TEMPORAL  ADVANTAGES  OF  THE  SABBATH, 


CONSIDERED  IN  RELATION  TO  THE  WORKING  CLASSES. 


BY 

JOHN  ALLAN  QUINTON,  Journeyman  Printer. 


'  Oh,  day  most  calm,  most  bright, 
The  fruit  of  this,  the  next  world's  bud, 
Th'  indorsement  of  supreme  delight. 
Writ  by  a  Friend,  and  with  his  blood ; 
Tlie  couch  of  time  ;  care's  balm  and  bay ; 
The  week  were  dark  but  for  thy  light : 
Thy  torch  doth  show  the  way." 

Herbert. 


CONTENTS 


I.  THE  PHYSICAL  ADVANTAGES  OF  THE  SAB- 

BATH,            -              -              -              -              -  5 

Repose,               -              -              •              •  5 

Cleanliness,                -              -               -              -  19 

Health,               -              ...  24 

II.  THE  MERCANTILE  ADVANTAGES  OF  THE 

SABBATH,      -              -              -              -              -  30 

Increased  Production,       -                              -  32 

Diminished  Consumption,        -               -               -  34 

Increased  competition  and  reduction  of  wages,  37 

ni.   THE    INTELLECTUAL   ADVANTAGES    OF 

THE  SABBATH,           -              -              -              -  40 

Opportunities  for  private  study  and  reflection,  43 

Means  of  public  oral  instruction,           -               -  46 

Sabbath  Schools,               -              -              .  49 

IV.  THE  DOMESTIC  ADVANTAGES  OF  THE  SAB- 
BATH, :          -              -              -              -              -  54 
Under  the  auspices  of  the  Sabbath,  natural  affec- 
tion is  nurtured  and  increased,     -               -  54 
The  Sabbath  secures  to  the  working  classes  op- 
portunities for  domestic  fellowship,     -               -  58 
The  Sabbath  affords  facilities  for  the  promotion 
and  exercise  of  family  piety,       -             -  62 


VU 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 


V.  THE  MORAL.  ADVANTAGES  OF  THE  SAB- 
BATH, _  -  -  -  66 

The  Sabbath  favours  morality  inasmuch  as  it  in- 
culcates the  practice  of  moral  duties,  and  gives 
free  scope  to  the  expression  of  the  moral  virtues,    67 

The  Sabbath  favours  morality  by  the  diversified 
talents  it  enlists,  and  the  innumerable  agencies 
it  organizes  in  its  service,  -  -  72 

VI.  THE   RELIGIOUS    ADVANTAGES   OF   THE 
SABBATH,      -  -  -  -  -    79 

The  Sabbath  is  the  chief  medium  for  preserving 
and  perpetuating  the  knowledge  and  worship  of 
God  in  the  world,  -  -  -  80 

Necessary  for  the  difiusion  of  Christianity,  -    83 

The  Sabbath  guaranties  a  season  for  unmolested 
attention  to  the  soul,      -  -  -  85 

Its  observance  the  best  preparation  for  the  vicis- 
situdes of  the  week,  -  -  -    87 


ADJUDICATION  NOTICE, 


The  circumstances  out  of  which  this  Essay  originated  were 
as  follows : — Towards  the  close  of  the  year  1847,  a  Chris- 
tian gentleman,  lamenting  the  fearful  increase  of  Sabbath 
desecration  by  railway,  steamboat,  and  other  traveUing  fa- 
cilities— deeply  impressed  with  the  intimate  connection  be- 
tween the  preservation  of  the  Sabbath  and  national  mo- 
rality, prosperity,  and  order,  and  being  convinced  that  many 
fallacies  were  propagated  by  those  who,  for  their  own 
profit,  deprived  the  poor  man  of  one  of  God's  best  gifts,  the 
Sabbath,  and  then  placed  the  responsibility  of  this  robbery 
upon  the  poor  man's  shoulders,  by  declaring  that  they  took 
the  day  from  him  for  the  benefit  of  himself  or  his  fellow- 
workmen — determined  to  appeal  to  the  working  classes 
themselves,  and  obtain  from  them  an  unbiassed  and  impar- 
tial verdict  upon  this  momentous  subject.  For  this  purpose 
he  offered  three  prizes,  of  £25,  £15,  and  £10,  for  the  three 
best  Essays  upon  "  The  Temporal  Advantages  of  the  Sab- 
bath to  the  Labouring  Classes,  and  the  consequent  import- 
ance of  preserving  its  rest  from  all  the  encroachments  of 
unnecessary  labour."  In  the  short  space  of  about  three 
months  one  thousand  and  forty-five  Essays  were  received. 


IX 


ADJUDICATION      NOTICE 


After  a  patient  investigation  of  this  vast  mass  of  MSS., 
which  occupied  from  the  close  of  March  to  the  close  of  De- 
cember, 1848,  we  have  awarded  the  three  principal  prizes 
as  follows : — 

First  Prize,  £25. — ^To  John  A.  Q,uinton,  Journeyman 
Printer,  Ipswich. 

Second  Prize,  £15. — To  John  Younger,  Shoemaker,  St. 
Boswell's  Green,  Roxburghshire. 

Third  Prize,  £10. — To  David    Farquhar,    Machinist, 
Dundee. 

In  making  this  award,  we  are  constrained  to  throw  our- 
selves upon  the  candid  consideration  of  the  competitors  and 
the  public.  We  have  endeavoured  to  discharge  our  trust 
as  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  we  believe  that  we  have  selected 
the  three  best  Essays.  But  we  cannot  court  a  rigid  and 
formal  criticism ;  nor  dare  we  presume  to  anticipate  that 
our  judgment  will  be  universally  unimpeached.  Those 
who  are  inclined  to  test  its  accuracy  by  some  formal  and 
preconceived  model,  will  probably  be  disappointed  with  our 
decision,  for  the  three  principal  Prizes  are  widely  dissimilar 
in  their  structure,  and  may  be  said  to  represent  three  dis- 
tinct orders  of  mind. 

We  feel  these  remarks  the  more  necessary  because  it  has 
been  our  privilege  to  obtain  for  the  movement  the  patron- 
age of  Her  Most  Gracious  Majesty  the  Q,ueen,  and  His 
Royal  Highness  Prince  Albert :  His  Royal  Highness  having 
contributed  ten  additional  Prizes  of  £5  each,  and  the  Brit- 
ish public  having  already  given  upwards  of  seventy  more. 
While  these  and  other  encouraging  circumstances  have 
greatly  cheered  us  in  our  labour,  they  have  drawn  addi- 
tional attention  to  our  award,  and  rendered  comparison  and 
criticism  much  more  easy  and  probable. 

J 


ADJUDICATION      NOTICE.  XI 

We  cannot  conclude  this  brief  notice  without  expressing 
a  hope  that  such  further  measures  will  be  arranged  as  shall 
awaken  an  enlarged  sympathy  with  the  object  throughout 
the  British  empire,  and  shall  ensure  the  ultimate  preserva- 
tion of  the  entire  of  these  valuable  and  interesting  MSS. 


ALEXANDER  SWAN, 

ROBERT  KETTLE,  ^  Adjudicators. 

DANIEL  FRANCIS  OAKEY, 
London.  Dec.  1848. 


J 


INTRODUCTION, 


It  had  been  the  desire  of  those  who  are  engaged 
in  the  direction  of  the  Sabbath  Essay  movement, 
that  the  following  Essay  should  have  been  intro- 
duced by  one  of  the  honorary  editors,  who  is  such 
a  grace  and  ornament  to  the  churches  with  which 
he  is  connected ;  and,  but  for  the  extreme  pressure 
of  his  avocations,  both  in  the  pastorate  and  by  the 
press,  he  would  have  complied  with  that  desire. 
As  it  thus  became  necessary  to  seek  some  other 
for  this  office,  I  have  gladly  accepted  the  oppor- 
tunity thereby  afforded  me,  of  evidencing  my  deep 
interest  in  this  noble  and  gratifying  labour  of  love 
amongst  our  hardworking  brethren.  Nor  is  this 
necessity  without  its  advantages,  since  it  gives  occa- 
sion for  exhibiting  that  evangelical  unity  amongst 
differing  churches,  which  may  be  the  harbinger  of 
more  peaceful  and  happy  times,  when  Ephraim 
shall  no  longer  envy  Judah,  nor  Judah  vex 
Ephraim,  but  Christian  union  shall  be  perfected, 

2~~^  B  O^iii) 


XIV  INTRODUCTION. 

and  made  manifest  in  the  whole  body  of  Christ 
our  Head.  One  of  the  Essayists,  in  reply  to  a 
letter  I  had  occasion  to  address  to  him  connected 
with  a  commmiication  of  his  for  the  Working 
Man's  Charter,  observes,  "  May  I  be  permitted  to 
remark  upon  the  singularity  of  my  case,  that  the 
first  approved  literary  effort  of  an  humble  member 
of  a  dissenting  community  should  be  ushered  into 
the  world  under  the  auspices  of  a  clergyman  of 
the  Church  of  England  ?  May  our  united  efforts 
in  this  labour  of  love  receive  the  divine  approba- 
tion." To  this  devout  aspiration  I  heartily 
respond  "Amen.'^  May  such  interchanges  of 
love  and  amity  be  more  frequent.  They  are 
not  altogether  new.  Dr.  Doddridge,  the  Non- 
conformist minister,  was  the  first  editor  of  the 
pious  and  enlightened  Archbishop  Leighton's 
Avorks,  and  a  recent  Bishop  of  Winchester,  in 
his  Elements  of  Theology,  long  a  text-book  for 
divinity  students  in  our  Universities,  has  placed 
in  his  list  of  elementary  works  the  Commentary 
of  Dr.  Doddridge ;  while  the  simple  and  beautiful 
hymns  of  Dr.  Watts  are  published  under  the 
sanction  of  the  Christian  Knowledge  Society,  and 
are  as  household  words,  as  the  very  songs  of  Zion, 
in  all  families,  and  in  all  churches  of  the  land.  I 
cannot  but  rejoice,  then,  that  it  is  permitted  to 
me  at  once  to  take  part  in  this  most  encouraging 
Sabbath  movement,  and  at  the  same  time  to  help 
on   the  great  work   of  Christian  union,  by  thus 


INTRODUCTION.  XV 

introducing  to  the  notice  of  the  rehgious  world 
this  deeply  interesting  and  edifying  composition, 
which  is  the  work  of  one  who  is  a  member,  and 
a  valued  and  prized  member,  of  the  Independent 
Congregation  of  Ipswich,  the  town  in  which  he 
has  long  been  known,  and  which  may  well  be 
proud  of  having  thus  been  honoured  by  one  of 
its  working  men. 

The  fact  of  our  author  being  a  working  man, 
though  undoubted  amongst  his  own  townsmen, 
is  just  that  very  one  which  it  becomes  us  chiefly 
to  certify  our  readers  respecting.  The  Edinburgh 
Witness,  a  periodical  of  considerable  influence  and 
power,  has  not  hesitated  to  say  of  this  Essay,  that 
it  is  one  which  any  writer  of  any  age  might 
rejoice  to  have  composed.  And,  as  this  is  not 
only  high,  but  deserved  praise,  it  may  excite 
doubts  in  the  minds  of  some  as  to  whether  it 
really  be  the  original  and  unaided  production  of 
the  person  it  is  represented  as  having  been  written 
by.  It  is  not  merely  the  public  at  large  who  are 
interested  in  this  fact,  as  a  remarkable  literary 
incident;  but  all  the  fellow-competitors  of  our 
author  are  concerned  to  know  that  they  have 
been  dealt  faithfully  by  in  the  adjudication,  and 
that  none  but  those  justly  entitled  to  a  standing 
therein  have  been  admitted  to  competition.  But 
even  more  than  all  this,  the  holy  and  solemn 
cause  itself  in  which  these  Essays  have  been 
written,  demands    imperatively   of   us    that    we 


XVI  INTRODUCTION 


substantiate  the  character  and  position  of  the 
writer,  so  as  to  prove  beyond  all  dispute  that 
he  is  of  the  class  professed,  and  that,  though  in 
that  class,  he  is  capable  of  himself  accomplishing 
the  production  of  such  a  work  as  now  appears 
from  his  hand,  head,  and  heart. 

We  have  felt  bound,  then,  to  seek  the  very 
best  information  upon  this  point,  and  we  are 
happy  to  have  it  in  our  power  to  offer  abundant 
testimony  to  the  fact.  The  master  in  whose 
employment  our  author  is,  and  has  been  for  some 
years  past,  and  who  is  himself  well  known  in  the 
town  of  Ipswich,  has  kindly  favoured  us  with  the 
following  satisfactory  reply  to  our  request  that  he 
would  furnish  us  with  his  testimonial. 

Ipswich,  Feb.  5,  1849. 
DEAR  SIR, 

I  have  the  pleasure  of  stating  that  Mr.  Quinton 
has  been  twelve  years  in  my  establishment,  that  he  has 
conducted  himself  in  the  most  praiseworthy  manner,  and 
by  his  application  and  talent  has  gradually  improved  his 
position.  He  has  been  truly  a  working  man,  and  all  his 
distinctions  are  well  earned. 

I  am,  dear  sir, 

Yours  faithfully, 
To  Rev.  J.  Jordan.  J.  M.  BURTON. 

As  the  foregoing  is  the  testimony  of  his  em- 
ployer, the  next  shall  be  that  of  a  personal  friend, 
to   whom    our    author    referred   us.      He   writes 


INTRODUCTION.  XVll 

evidently  with  all  the  warmth  of  friendship,  but 
at  the  same  time  with  the  earnestness  of  sincerity. 
In  omitting,  therefore,  some  passages  of  his  letter, 
we  can  assure  the  reader  that  we  do  so  mainly 
out  of  deference  to  an  expression  contained  in  a 
letter  from  Mr.  Quinton  himself,  in  which  he  writes, 
"  I  speak  truly,  when  I  say  that  I  am  very  averse 
to  this  exposure  before  the  public  eye."  We  will 
not  risk,  then,  the  damage  of  such  a  feeling  as 
this,  while  we  must  not  shrink  from  discharging 
our  duty  to  the  public.  Mr.  Quinton's  friend 
writes  thus  respecting  him : 

REV.  SIR : 

I  cheerfully  comply  with  your  request  in  sending  a 
few  brief  particulars  respecting  Mr.  John  Allan  Quinton, 
whom  I  have  known  during  nearly  the  whole  time  of  my 
residence  in  Ipswich,  a  period  of  nine  years,  throughout 
which  I  have  had  opportunities  of  closely  observing  his 
conduct  and  deportment,  and  becoming  acquainted  with 
his  position  in  life.  He  has  been  in  Mr.  Burton's  employ 
during  all  that  period,  and  is,  strictly  speaking,  his  servant. 
His  employment  is  exclusively  in  the  printing  office,  and 
he,  in  common  with  other  working  men,  receives,  as  well 
as  they,  his  weekly  wages,  although  his  length  of  service, 
abiUty,  and  conscientious,  upright  conduct  have  placed  him 
in  the  position  of  foreman,  or  overseer. 

His  character,  I  beheve,  no  one  would  attempt  openly  to 
impeach.  Almost  proverbial  for  integrity  and  uprightness ; 
modest,  diffident,  unassuming;  nature  has  done  much  for 
him ;  the  grace  of  God  has  done  more.  He  is  greatly 
esteemed  in  the  Christian  community  to  which  he  belongs, 

and  by  his  fellow-townsmen  generally His  industry 

__ 


XVlll  INTRODUCTION. 

is  highly  commendable,  and  to  this  only  can  be  attributed 
the  attainments  he  has  made  in  knowledge.  His  recrea- 
tion is  only  a  change  of  employment Those  who 

know  most  of  him  will  speak  in  the  highest  terms  of  his 

character  and  industry 

What  I  have  said  I  believe  to  be  strictly  in  accordance 
with  truth,  and  feel  sure  that  my  testimony  would  be  con- 
firmed by  many  to  whom  he  is  well  known,  and  who  have, 
like  myself,  cultivated  his  friendship. 

I  beg,  sir,  to  subscribe  myself. 

Yours,  most  respectfully, 

GEO.  MESSENT. 

Ipswich,  Feb.  4, 1849. 

The  next  testimony  we  would  oifer  to  the 
reader,  is  that  of  an  intelligent  member  of  the 
Society  of  Friends,  resident  at  Ipswich,  and  for 
some  time  engaged  in  business  as  a  banker — 
R.  D.  Alexander,  Esq.,  F.  L.  S.,  whose  frequent 
opportunities  of  knowing  our  author,  and  under- 
standing his  character  and  position,  enable  him  to 
speak  as  satisfactorily  as  conclusively  to  these. 
Mr.  Alexander  writes  thus: 

Ipswich,  16:  2;  1849 
RESPECTED  FRIEND, 

As  one  of  John  Allan  Q,uinton's  referees,  I  write  to 
state  that,  in  my  character  of  editor  of  "  The  Temperance 
Recorder,"  and  of  a  series  of  Temperance  Tracts,  I  became 
acquainted  with  him  about  seven  years  since,  when  he  was, 
and  still  continues  to  be,  the  foreman  in  Burton's  printing 
office — hired  by  him  as  a  "compositor,"  but  of  late  years 
mostly,  or  almost  entirely,  occupied  as  overseer  of  the 


INTRODUCTION.  XIX 

office,  having  from  the  increased  work  brought  to  the  office 
— I  have  reason  to  beUeve  in  part  from  the  good  manage- 
ment of  Q,uinton — httle  leisure  to  work  at  "  the  case."  I 
have  made  very  frequent,  almost  daily,  visits  to  the  printing 
office  for  a  length  of  time,  and  have  admired  the  quiet 
bearing  of  his  manner,  maintaining  good  order  by  gentle 
rule  and  respectful  manner  to  those  below  him,  aided  by 
his  unwearied  industry  and  attention  to  his  employer's 
work. 

J.  A.  Q^uinton's  conduct  in  private  life  is,  I  beheve,  con- 
sistent with  his  profession  as  a  Christian,  and  in  general 
terms  I  may  say  that  he  is  a  good  example  for  working 
men. 

I  am  respectfully, 

Rd.  D.  ALEXANDER. 


We  will  present  only  one  more  testimonial,  but 
it  is  that  which,  in  every  Christian  community,  is 
necessarily  looked  to  as  the  most  essential  one — 
the  good  word  of  the  minister  of  our  holy  faith 
under  whose  pastoral  care  Mr.  Quinton  lives,  and 
whom,  according  to  the  ability  given  him,  he  aids 
in  his  work  of  inviting  sinners  to  flee  from  the 
wrath  to  come,  and  to  turn  to  repentance  and  call- 
ing upon  God.  The  Rev.  John  Whitby,  to  whose 
kindness  we  are  indebted  for  having  communicated 
with  the  three  gentlemen  who  have  already  borne 
their  testimony  to  Mr.  Quinton's  worth,  writes  as 
follows : 


XX  INTRODUCTION. 


Ipswich,  Feb.  16,  1849. 
REV.  SIR, 

I  duly  received  yours,  and  saw  Mr.  Quinton  on  the  sub- 
ject, who,  I  beheve,  has  written  to  you,  and  communicated 
the  circumstantial  facts  you  requested.  I  did  not  know 
him  till  he  had  ended  his  apprenticeship. 

His  membership  with  a  Christian  church  began  at  Stow- 
market.  He  has  been  some  years  in  communion  and  mem- 
bership with  the  church  in  Nicholas  Chapel,  of  which  I  am 
the  pastor.  I  had  the  pleasure  of  marrying  him,  some 
eight  or  nine  years  since,  to  one  of  our  estimable  members 
of  the  church. 

He  has  always  been  a  studious  and  persevering  young 
man,  with  a  comprehensive  mind,  and  rather  exuberant 
imagination.  As  a  Christian,  he  has  maintained  a  high  and 
honourable  reputation,  much  esteemed  and  beloved  by  true 
Christians.  Nor  has  his  Christian  life  been  fruitless,  but 
devoted  to  the  cause  of  Christ.  He  has  preached  the  Gos- 
pel, in  villages  and  in  my  pulpit,  with  acceptance.  I  cherish 
a  great  regard  for  him,  and  so  does  the  church  of  which  he 
is  a  member.  It  is  Christianity  that  has  made  him  truly 
great.  He  has  only  written  what  he  has  enjoyed  of  the 
blessedness  of  keeping  and  loving  the  Sabbath.  I  was  not 
surprised  when  I  heard  that  he  had  reached  the  honour  of 
the  first  prize  on  the  Sabbath  to  the  working  classes.  I 
knew  his  power  of  illustration.  As  to  his  eligibility  as  a 
working  man  to  be  a  competitor,  I  may  just  say  I  have 
often  seen  him  at  work  in  the  printing  office  of  Mr.  Burton, 
who,  I  believe,  has  written  you  in  connection  with  the 
other  gentlemen  you  mentioned.  I  need  not  add  more. 
I  am,  Rev.  and  dear  sir, 

Yours  faithfully, 

JOHN  WHITBY, 

Independent  Minister. 


INTRODUCTION.  XXI 

Having  now,  as  we  trust,  anticipated  and  satis- 
fied every  reasonable  question  that  can  be  raised 
respecting  our  author,  we  are  further  desirous  of 
gratifying  what  is  Hkely  to  be  the  natural  wish 
of  every  reader,  and  what  has  been  the  frequently 
expressed  one  of  a  large  number  of  the  competi- 
tors with  whom  we  have  had  communication,  that 
every  Essayist  should  supply  a  brief  account  of 
himself,  and  thus  make  his  fellow-competitors  as 
well  acquainted  as  possible  with  him,  and  the  cir- 
cumstances and  occurrences  of  his  life.  Although, 
as  stated  above,  our  author  would  willingly,  if  con- 
sulting his  own  feelings  alone,  avoid  such  publi- 
city, yet,  for  the  sake  of  others,  and  especially  for 
the  sake  of  that  cause  in  which  he  has  been  called 
upon  to  take  so  prominent  a  part,  he  consents  to 
forego  his  own  feelings,  and  has  favoured  us  with 
a  brief  sketch  of  his  life,  which  commences  thus  : 

In  the  late  honours  that  have  been  so  unexpectedly  thrust 
upon  me,  I  have  been  unable  to  exercise  any  choice.  I  have 
been  drawn,  perforce,  from  the  familiar  sanctum  of  seclu- 
sion, and  must  cease  more  than  ever  to  feel  that  I  am  my 
own,  but  am  become  more  expressly  the  property  of  the 
Lord  and  his  people.  I  will  now  proceed  to  register  a  few 
of  the  leading  details  of  my  past  life,  which  has  not  been 
remarkable  for  any  very  striking  incidents. 

I  was  born  at  the  small  town  of  Needham  Market,  in  the 
county  of  Suffolk,  in  the  year  1817.  I  am  the  eldest  of  a 
family  of  either  twelve  or  thirteen,  ten  of  whom  are  hving. 
My  parents  also  are  still  living.  I  might  observe,  in  passing, 
that  they  are  respected  for  their  unimpeachable  lives  and 


XXU  INTRODUCTION. 

integrity  of  character.  They  have  for  many  years  been 
members  of  a  Christian  community.  My  father  was  a  tailor 
by  trade,  but  about  thirty-six  years  ago  he  took  a  small 
chemist  and  druggist's  shop,  vacated  by  death,  and  by  his 
uniform  application  to  business  and  his  eminent  trustwor- 
thiness, he  gradually  extended  and  consolidated  a  snug  little 
business,  which  has  enabled  him  to  bring  up  his  large  family 
in  respectability  and  economic  habits.  At  the  age  of  nine 
or  ten  I  was  taken  from  a  dame's  school,  and  placed  under 
the  tutorage  of  Mr.  J.  Webb,  then  of  Needham,  but  now 
Baptist  Minister  of  Stoke  Green  Chapel,  Ipswich.  Mr. 
Webb,  however,  shortly  after  leaving  to  prosecute  his  col- 
lege studies,  I  was  transferred  to  the  cure  of  Mr.  Durrant, 
with  whom  I  continued  till  within  a  short  period  of  my 
apprenticeship.  This  school  was  of  the  ordinary  charac- 
ter to  be  found  extensively,  twenty  years  back,  in  villages 
and  small  towns.  My  education  comprised  writing,  (any- 
thing but  of  a  first-rate  description,)  arithmetic,  reading, 
and  grammar — and  all  these  imparted  in  the  most  crude 
and  meagre  manner.  If  by  education  we  are  to  under- 
stand the  education  of  the  mind,  of  this  I  had  positively 
none.  I  was  not  conscious,  for  two  or  three  years  after 
completing  my  scholastic  drudgeries,  of  any  signs  of  intel- 
lectual life,  or  stirrings  of  mental  wakefulness.  Four  or 
five  years  seem  a  long  time  to  spend  in  amassing  nothing, 
but  a  large  poTtion  of  time  was  wasted  in  ornamental  print- 
ing, &c.,  which  was  of  no  practical  utility  whatever.  My 
instructor  was  a  stenographer,  and  as  I  took  a  great  deal 
of  pleasure  in  the  practice  of  this  art,  he  was  particularly 
gratified  thereat,  and  gave  me  abundance  of  exercises  and 
tasks,  which,  when  performed,  were  rewarded  with  special 
marks  of  appreciation  by  a  holiday.  These  things  com- 
prise the  tout  ensemble  of  my  education.  I  never  at  school 
learned  a  sentence  of  geography,  so  far  as  I  can  recollect — 
no  use  of  globes — no  Latin — no  study  of  maps — no  drawing 


INTRODUCTION.  XXlll 

— no  history — no  natural  philosophy,  &c.  I  never  at- 
tempted a  thesis  or  an  essay,  nor  did  I  attempt  such  a  task 
for  years  afterwards. 

At  the  age  of  fourteen  I  was  apprenticed  to  Mr.  Woolby, 
printer  and  bookseller,  Stowmarket,  (three  and  a  half  miles 
from  my  native  place,)  with  whom  I  continued  six  years. 
Being  naturally  indisposed  to  mix  in  society,  I  kept  myself 
quite  retired,  seldom  going  out  after  or  before  business  hours, 
even  for  requisite  exercise.  This  confinement,  chiefly  self- 
imposed,  and  this  consequent  deficiency  of  physical  recrea- 
tion, superinduced  a  feebleness  of  constitution  that  has  un- 
fitted me  for  years  for  any  severe  or  prolonged  muscular 
exertion.  The  first  two  or  three  years  of  my  apprentice- 
sliip  were  devoted  to  the  study  of  music,  the  reading  of 
poetry,  sometimes  novels,  and  works  of  general  informa- 
tion. I  soon  evinced  a  taste  for  works  of  an  imaginative 
and  exciting  character,  and  for  a  poetical  style  of  composi- 
tion. Of  some  of  Byron's  works  I  was  passionately  fond. 
From  reading,  I  soon  began  to  write,  poetry.  I  lived  in  a 
land  of  dreams  and  ideal  enchantments.  The  poetic  afflatus 
or  inspiration  has  ofi;entimes  emasculated  my  strength,  filled 
me  with  trembling,  and  compelled  me  to  desist  from  labour. 
I  grew  disgusted  with  the  mean  and  gross  realities  of  com- 
mon life.  I  felt  inarticulate  longings  for  something  above 
the  actual.  This  state  of  feeling  and  emotion  breathed  it- 
self out  in  innumerable  fragmentary  efifusions.  About  this 
time  I  became  a  Sabbath  School  teacher,  and  shortly  after, 
through  instrumentality  in  connection  with  the  school,  I 
was  brought  to  decision  of  character.  For  a  long  period  of 
years  I  never  remember  to  have  absented  myself  from  a 
place  of  worship,  which  I  almost  invariably  attended  three 
times  on  the  Sabbath.  Coeval  with  these  circumstances,  I 
might  mention,  a  society  for  Mutual  Improvement  was  es- 
tablished, directed,  and  presided  over,  by  gentlemen  of  con- 
siderable mental  culture  and  attainments.     This  institution 


XXIV  INTRODUCTION. 

I  joined,  and  here  my  first  decided  public  eflbrts  were  made 
to  emancipate  my  mind  from  the  thraldom  of  ignorance. 

On  April  1st,  1836,  I  was  received  into  fellowship  with 
the  Independent  Church,  Stowmarket,  then  under  the  pas- 
toral care  of  Rev.  W.  Ward,  M.  A.  (since  deceased).  My 
attention  was  now  almost  entirely  absorbed  by  rehgious 
reading,  exercises,  and  correspondence,  and  by  visiting  the 
sick  and  ignorant.  I  also  had  earnest  desires  stirred  up  in 
my  mind  towards  the  ministry  of  the  Gospel.  On  the  ex- 
piration of  my  term  of  apprenticeship,  having  in  purpose 
renounced  my  secular  calling,  and  being  in  a  precarious 
state  of  health,  I  returned  home  with  the  intention  of  re- 
cruiting the  same,  and  waiting  the  developments  of  God's 
will  in  this  matter.  Here  I  continued  for  about  eight 
months,  employed  in  reading,  and  occasional  preaching  in 
the  surrounding  villages.  I  likewise  undertook  the  super- 
intendence of  a  Sabbath  school.  As  winter  drew  on,  how- 
ever, and  no  means  wherewith  to  prosecute  my  introduc- 
tory studies,  previous  to  a  collegiate  course,  were  apparent, 
I  began  to  grow  uncomfortable  in  burdening  my  parents, 
and  thought  I  had  mistaken  the  path  of  duty.  I  accord- 
ingly, in  the  month  of  December,  came  to  Ipswich  in  order 
to  obtain  a  situation.  I  was,  by  a  singular  concurrence  of 
circumstances,  directed  to  Mr.  Burton's — engaged  with  him 
— where  I  have  continued  ever  since.  His  business  was 
then  very  small,  but  from  that  period  until  now  (more  than 
twelve  years)  it  has  steadily  increased  in  every  department. 
He  has  now  machines  worked  by  steam  power,  a  stereotype 
foundry,  &c.,  and  every  facility  for  doing  work  in  the  best 
style.  My  province  has  been  exclusively  in  the  office,  and, 
to  a  considerable  extent,  the  management  of  the  printing 
office  has  been  entrusted  to  me.  During  all  this  long  period 
I  have  closely  applied  myself  to  business  through  long  hours, 
but  as  I  did  it  cheerfully,  and  with  an  indomitable  determi- 
nation to  battle  upwards,  its  oppressiveness  was  not  so  pain- 


INTRODUCTION.  XXV 

fully  felt.  My  leisure  for  reading  and  intellectual  culture 
has  accordingly  been  exceedingly  limited.  I  believe  I  should 
be  within  the  mark  if  I  said  that,  on  an  average,  I  have  not 
read  twenty  volumes,  small  and  large,  light  and  sohd,  per 
year.  I  begin  to  feel  this  deprivation  now  very  keenly,  and 
long  for  more  literary  and  religious  leisure.  Until  within 
the  last  two  years  I  have  regularly  engaged  in  the  villages 
as  an  evangelist.  Enfeebled  health  now  forbids  such  ex- 
hausting labours. 

Such,  dear  sir,  is  a  plain  unvarnished  statement  of  the 
leading  events  of  my  unexciting  history.  I  leave  them  in 
your  judicious  hands,  to  make  what  use  of  them  you  may 
deem  proper.  But  the  less  parade  the  better,  if  my  feelings 
are  to  be  consulted.  I  shall  be  happy  to  answer  any  ques- 
tion which  may  be  suggested  by  the  foregoing  facts. 

Such  is  our  friend's  unvarnished  tale  of  himself 
and  his  earlier  years.  In  concluding  this  introduc- 
tion we  will  add  a  brief  remark  respecting  the  Es- 
say itself,  and  the  position  assigned  to  it.  It  is  not 
detracting  from  the  merits  of  either  this,  the  first, 
or  the  other  two,  the  second  and  third  Essays,  se- 
lected out  of  so  large  a  number  as  one  thousand 
and  forty-five  competitors,  to  say,  that  they  have 
not  attained  to  their  honourable  position  without 
much  anxious  discrimination  on  the  part  of  those 
who  adjudicated  respecting  them.  So  far  is  this 
from  being  the  case,  that  we  hail  it  rather  as  a  tes- 
timony of  the  anxiety  and  faithfulness  with  which 
the  adjudication  was  carried  on,  as  an  omen  for 
good  respecting  the  whole  movement,  and  as  a 
corroborative   assurance   that,   while    there   were 


I     XXVI  INTRODUCTION. 

Others  esteemed  worthy  to  compete  closely,  with, 
these  for  the  superiority,  there  are  special  and  pecu 
liar  excellencies  in  the  three  which  entitle  them  to 
their  place  and  reward. 

The  one  immediately  before  us  will  not  fail, 
we  are  persuaded,  to  commend  itself  to  the 
reader,  for  its  evident  and  obvious  appropriate- 
ness to  the  solemn  subject  discussed  in  it,  under 
the  peculiar  phase  demanded  by  the  terms  of  the 
competition.  There  may  be  others  of  apparently 
more  vivacity  and  power — others,  again,  that  seem 
to  manifest  closer  and  severer  judgment — others 
still,  irradiating  sparks  of  apparently  more  fervid 
and  devout  piety;  but  for  a  noble  combination 
of  all  these,  developed  with  a  staidness  and 
sobriety  of  thought  adapted  to  the  subject,  and 
enlivened  with  rich  and  eloquent  strains  of  ex- 
hortation, we  believe  that  no  other  will  be  found 
to  rival  it,  and  that  it  will  thus  abundantly 
justify  the  final  decision  respecting  it,  and  ap- 
prove itself  to  all  as  thus  rightly  placed,  whatever 
comparisons  may  be  hereafter  instituted  between  it 
and  others,  as  they  severally  appear,  and  as,  no 
doubt,  their  respective  friends  and  admirers  may  be 
tempted  to  urge  in  their  behalf. 

It  is,  then,  with  entire  confidence  that  we  com- 
mend both  the  work  and  its  author  to  the  favour 
and  interest  of  all  who  would  cherish  in  their  hearts 
a  due  reverence  for  God's  holy  day,  and  that  affec- 
tion and  love  for  the  class  of  persons  from  whom 


INTRODUCTION.  XXVll 

this  Essay  emanates,  which  those  cannot  fail  to  have 
who  understand  and  appreciate  the  apostolical  in- 
junction, "As  we  have  many  members  in  one 
body,  and  all  members  have  not  the  same  office,  so 
we,  being  many,  are  one  body  in  Christ,  and  every 
one  members  one  of  another.'^  Rom.  xii.  4,  6. 

J.  JORDAN. 

Enstone,  Oxon,  Feb.  1849. 


HEAVEN'S  ANTIDOTE  TO  THE  CURSE  OF  LABOUR. 


ioL-jga 


E  are  entering  on  what  may  be  em- 
phaticaUy  styled 'the  Age  of  Pro- 
gress. But  our  advancement  does  not  consist,  in  all 
cases,  in  pursuing  with  accelerated  speed  the  track 
trodden  by  our  progenitors.  These  are  rather  times 
of  sifting  investigation.  Everything  is  being  tested. 
Every  received  dogma  is  submitted  to  the  crucible. 
Every  object  of  popular  faith  and  homage  is  sub- 
jected to  the  most  keen  and  rigid  scrutiny.  Every 
social  and  religious  institution  has  passed,  or  is 
passing,  the  same  fiery  ordeal.  Men  are  digging 
down  to  discover  the  deep  foundations  of  things. 


ANTIDOTE     TO 


A  stern  spirit  of  utilitarianism  is  abroad,  plucking 
up  whatsoever  is  useless,  and  overthrowing  what- 
soever is  obstructive  of  the  prosperity  and  progres- 
sion of  man.  Some  of  the  most  sacred  objects 
commanding  our  love  and  veneration,  as  well  as 
many  of  the  imposing  shams  that  have  fed  and 
thriven  on  popular  credulity,  have  been,  from  time 
to  time,  assailed  and  denounced  by  their  adversa- 
ries. The  Bible  has  been  again  and  again  cast 
into  the  furnace  of  controversy,  but  always  to 
come  out  more  glorious  and  precious  than  before. 
Christianity,  too,  has  often  engaged  in  desperate 
conflict  with  her  embattled  foes,  but  has  always 
retained  possession  of  the  field,  and  come  off  more 
than  conqueror.  On  the  other  hand,  numerous 
systems  of  error,  excrescences  of  ancient  institu- 
tions, and  creations  of  human  selfishness,  that  once 
flourished  in  the  world,  have  shrivelled  beneath 
the  exposures  of  the  intelligent  and  the  good.  At 
the  present  period,  many  of  these  lately  reigning 
pretences,  impeached  by  reason  and  condemned  by 
public  opinion,  are  slowly  perishing  from  our 
midst. 

We  need  not  be  surprised,  therefore,  that  the 
Sabbath — an  institution  crossing  fallen  man's  self- 
interest  at  such  a  variety  of  points,  and  tolerant  of 
none  of  the  grosser  or  more  grovelling  predilec- 
tions of  the  masses — should  come  in  for  its  full 
share  of  hostility  and  repudiation.  Avarice  grudges 
it,  and  would  be  glad  to  buy  it  up.     Selfishness 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR.  3 

covets  it,  and  waits  only  for  a  plausible  pretext  to 
seize  upon  and  annex  it  to  its  domains.  Sensuality 
gloats  upon  it,  and,  scorning  its  alleged  sanctity, 
would  spend  it  in  a  carnival  of  folly  and  voluptu- 
ousness. Infidelity  would  raise  its  shouts  of 
triumph  on  beholding  it  trampled  down  by  world- 
liness,  whilst  religious  lukewarmness  holds  its  en- 
treasured  blessings  with  such  a  relaxing  grasp,  that 
it  would  not  require  a  very  powerful  effort  to 
wrench  them  from  its  custody.  But  the  Sabbath 
has  most  to  fear  from  the  gigantic  public  compa- 
nies everywhere  springing  up  around  us  in  this  age 
of  enterprise.  What  isolated  individuals  would 
shrink  from  the  responsibility  of  attempting,  con- 
federacies, strong  in  wealth  and  in  influence,  will 
be  found  daring  enough  to  do,  and  that,  too,  with 
comparative  impunity.  Many  of  these  leagues  of 
selfishness,  we  fear — whose  greed  is  concentrated 
and  intensified  by  their  numbers  —  would  not 
scruple  to  stretch  forth  their  monopolizing  hands 
and  appropriate  this  day  to  schemes  of  aggran- 
dizement. But,  should  they  ever  be  suffered  to 
extort  this  blessing  from  society,  and  silence  all  in- 
dignant remonstrance,  no  earthly  power  would  be 
able  to  stand  against  their  desolating  inroads.  The 
health,  the  domestic  comfort,  the  moral  elevation, 
and  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  labouring  classes, 
would  be  of  no  more  account  than  the  small  dust 
of  the  balance.  The  happiness  of  thousands  of 
lowly  families  would  be  speedily  and  remorselessly 


ANTIDOTE     TO 


sacrificed.  Multitudes  of  human  beings,  dear  to 
their  kindred,  dear  to  their  country,  and  dear  to 
their  Creator  and  Redeemer,  would  thus  become 
the  mere  "  tools  of  gain — the  conscripts  of  ambi- 
tion— and  the  materials  of  luxury." 

If  such  a  catastrophe  is  to  be  averted,  the  friends 
of  humanity  and  the  guardians  of  truth  must 
awake  from  their  lethargy,  and  bravely  go  forth  to 
repulse  the  invaders  of  the  Sabbath.  Should  the 
Sabbath's  privileges  be  wrested  from  the  sons  of 
toil,  it  can  only  happen  through  the  apathy  and  the 
unfaithfulness  of  the  philanthropic  and  the  good. 
But  if  every  one  who  is  baptized  with  love  for  his 
species  would  diligently  study  the  subject  in  all  its 
bearings,  master  its  apparent  difficulties,  get  distinct 
views  of  it  before  his  own  mind,  and  then  do  his 
utmost  towards  the  creation  of  a  healthy  public 
opinion  on  the  matter,  the  ominous  evils  now 
menacing  our  country  would  be  immediately 
checked — the  designs  of  the  sordid,  the  profane, 
and  the  licentious  would  be  frustrated — the  claims 
of  the  Sabbath  would  be  established  on  an  im- 
movable basis — the  tide  of  Sabbath  desecration 
would  be  rolled  back,  and  a  glorious  impetus 
would  be  given  to  the  holy  enterprises  of  the  age. 

Should  the  following  investigation  of  the  tem- 
poral advantages  of  the  Sabbath,  considered  espe- 
cially in  relation  to  the  working  classes,  tend,  how- 
ever feebly,  to  aid  a  ^^  consummation  so  devoutly  to 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR, 


be  wished/'  the  writer  will  have  accomplished  an 
object  lying  very  near  to  his  heart. 

The  plan  we  propose  to  pursue  will  be,  to  com- 
mence with  the  subordinate  benefits  conferred  by 
the  Sabbathj  and  gradually  ascend  to  the  contem- 
plation of  those  affecting  the  higher  interests  of 
mankind.  And  should  we  be  tempted  to  dwell 
longer  on  these  inferior  advantages  than  may  be 
thought  necessary,  it  will  be  in  consequence  of 
their  being  usually  very  inadequately  set  forth, 
and  because  they  are  actually  realized  by  far 
greater  numbers  than  are  those  of  a  more  exalted 
character.     We  shall  notice — 


I.    THE   PHYSICAL  ADVANTAGES  OF   THE   SABBATH. 

Among  these  may  be  enumerated  repose,  clean- 
liness, and  health. 

I.    REPOSE. 

Man  needs  periodic  intervals  of  rest.  The 
strongest  constitutional  stamina,  the  most  robust  or 
sinewy  human  frame,  must  speedily  relax  beneath 
the  exactions  of  the  mildest  forms  of  continuous 
labour.  A  kind  provision  is  partially  made  to 
avert  this  result,  by  the  season  of  nocturnal  repose, 
when  the  benevolent  Creator,  quenching  the  glare 
of  day,  and  drawing  the  curtains  of  darkness 
around  a  wearied  world,  enfolds  the  children  of 
creation  beneath  the  shadow  of  his  wings,  and 


6  heaven's    antidote    to 

hushes  them  to  slumber  on  their  beds  of  peace. 
But  this  sweet  restorative — welcome  as  it  always 
is  to  human  infirmity,  and  anxiously  as  it  is  longed 
for,  as  the  day  drags  to  its  close,  by  multitudes 
overmastered  by  the  severities  of  toil  and  the  mo- 
notonous struggles  of  life — does  not  fully  meet  the 
exigencies  of  man's  nature.  The  nightly  supply 
of  refreshment  and  strength  is  not  equivalent  to 
the  daily  expenditure  of  energy  ordinarily  incurred; 
and  especially  is  this  true  in  vast  numbers  of  cases 
among  the  working  classes,  where  the  constitution 
has  been  deteriorated  by  early  privations,  by  insuf- 
ficiency of  food,  and  by  uncleanly  or  intemperate 
habits.  A  supplemental  period  of  rest  is  therefore 
required,  to  treasure  up  such  a  degree  of  strength 
as  shall  enable  those  upon  whom  the  burden  of 
labour  presses  most  heavily,  to  fulfil  their  allotted 
tasks  without  prematurely  wearing  out  the  animal 
system. 

But  neither  is  this  all.  It  is  not  enough  that  a 
race  of  rational  beings  should  be  dealt  with  on  the 
mercenary  principles  adopted  with  respect  to  our 
beasts  of  burthen.  Man's  two-fold  nature — ^his 
nobler  capabilities — his  elevation  as  a  moral  agent 
— his  soul,  resplendent  even  in  its  ruins — challenge 
a  loftier  recognition  of  his  claims  than  is  due  to  the 
mere  drudges  of  creation.  To  calculate  the  daily 
ravages  committed  upon  the  loins,  the  muscles,  and 
the  limbs  of  labour,  and  to  dole  out  the  minimum 
amount  of  rest  and  nutriment  that  will  suffice  to 


THE     CURSE     OP     LABOUR, 


repair  these  damages — to  barely  maintain  the  equi- 
hbrium  of  functional  waste  and  supply,  at  the 
smallest  possible  sacrifice  of  their  services — is  to 
embrute  the  labouring  population ;  yea,  to  degrade 
beings  originally  fashioned  in  the  image  of  God 
into  mere  animate  machines,  to  be  used  in  the  pro- 
duction of  wealth,  luxury,  and  patrician  indul- 
gences, in  which  they  are  never  suffered  to  partici- 
pate ;  instead  of  which,  they  are  doomed — through 
the  elasticity  of  youth,  the  vigour  of  manhood, 
and  the  decrepitude  of  age — to  spend  all  their  in- 
tervals of  relaxation  from  physical  exertion  in 
eating,  in  drinking,  or  in  sleeping — and  all  this 
only  to  gather  fresh  power  for  the  strained  sinews, 
and  new  moisture  for  the  dripping  brow!  But 
man  yearns  for  a  higher  order  of  repose  than  this : 
something  more  congenial  with  the  diviner  indwell- 
ings of  his  being.  Not  the  mere  oblivion  of  the 
senses  ;  not  the  luxurious  stretch  of  the  tired  limbs ; 
not  the  subdued  throbbings  of  the  overwrought 
brain ;  not  alone  the  casting  out  of  mortal  weari- 
ness and  pain  ; — not  a  rest  altogether  imposed  by 
physical  necessity,  but  a  rest  that  may  be  wake- 
fully,  intelligently,  and  complacently  enjoyed.  Such 
a  want  is  delightfully  supplied  by  the  institution  of 
the  Sabbath ! 

The  wisdom  as  well  as  the  benevolence  of 
Heaven  is  clearly  exemplified  in  this  ordinance,  in 
its  manifest  adaptation  to  the  circumstances  of  the 
bulk  of  mankind.    These  days  are  not  "like  angels' 


heaven's   antidote   to 


visits,  few  and  far  between;"  nor  is  the  respite 
from  secular  employment,  when  it  arrives,  too  pro- 
tracted in  its  duration.  It  preserves  a  judicious 
mean  between  these  mischievous  extremes.  Had 
its  recurrence  fallen  at  intervals  more  distant  than 
at  present,  its  benign  influence  would  have  been 
found  insufficient  to  withstand  the  crushing  effects 
of  unremitting  labour  on  the  health  of  our  opera- 
tives. And,  on  the  other  hand,  if  it  had  occurred 
oftener,  it  would  have  exposed  multitudes  to  priva- 
tions, from  the  scantiness  of  their  earnings;  it 
might  have  tended  to  undermine  those  industrial 
habits  upon  which  the  working  classes  have  to  rely 
for  their  prosperity  and  advancement ;  and  might, 
moreover,  have  increased  those  propensities  to  in- 
dolence and  dissipation,  which  even  now  are  too 
extensively  disclosed.  As  it  is,  the  Sabbatical  rest, 
whilst  it  affords  but  a  brief  holiday  to  idleness, 
suffices  to  oil  the  wheels  of  industry,  to  give  new 
zest  to  enterprise,  and  to  renerve  the  arm,  and  gird 
up  afresh  the  loins  of  labour. 

The  Sabbath,  as  a  day  of  relaxation  and  re- 
freshment, should  be  esteemed  precious  by  the 
working  classes  in  particular.  The  statesman,  the 
merchant,  the  manufacturer,  and  even  the  trades- 
man, can  often  escape  the  duties  or  emancipate 
themselves  from  the  thrall  of  business ;  and,  van- 
ishing from  their  respective  engagements,  may  em- 
bark for  foreign  travel,  and  luxuriate  awhile  in 
some  invigorating  clime ;    or,  wandering  up  and 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR, 


down  our  own  fair  isle  in  search  of  health,  may 
halt  at  spots  rich  in  historic  interest  and  in  memo- 
rials of  ancient  fame,  or  may  visit  the  wonder- 
teeming  cities  and  towns  reared  by  modern  enter- 
prise ;  or  else,  if  wearied  with  the  excitement  of 
such  scenes,  may  turn  aside  for  a  season  to  the 
margin  of  the  ocean,  and  there  inhale  health  and 
gladness  from  its  bracing  breezes,  refresh  their 
bodies  in  its  living  waters,  and  soothe  the  irritation 
of  their  feelings  with  the  music  of  its  murmurings. 
But  not  so  the  poor  working  man ;  he  cannot  go 
beyond  his  tether — he  can  rarely  cast  off  his  collar. 
From  morning's  dawn  to  evening's  close,  and  often 
into  the  deep  shadows  of  the  night — through  scenes 
of  sorrow  and  tribulation,  and  the  incipient  stages 
of  disease — his  necessities  chain  him  to  his  post. 
Condemned,  like  Sisyphus  of  old,  to  roll  the  stone 
of  labour  up  the  steep  acclivity  of  hfe,  which,  on 
having  neared  the  summit,  rebounds  to  its  starting 
point  again,  he  finds  himself,  after  the  disburse- 
ment of  his  scanty  wages,  again  at  the  bottom  of 
the  mountain,  yoked  to  his  hopeless  task,  and  com- 
pelled to  begin  anew  the  up-hill  struggle. 

But  cherfi-  thee,  child  of  travail !  The  blessed 
Sabbath  is  thine  own  !  It  is  the  excellent  gift  of 
thy  Maker — see,  then,  that  no  man  rob  thee  of  the 
boon  !  It  is  the  heir-loom  of  thy  family — see  that 
it  be  not  alienated  from  their  possession  !  It  is  a 
sacred  inheritance,  bequeathed  by  successive  gene- 
rations of  the  godly — see,  then,  that  its  frail  fences 


10 


are  kept  unbroken,  and  that  its  fruitful  soil  is  not, 
through  neglect,  cursed  with  sterility  and  naked- 
ness !  The  fifty-two  Sabbaths  of  rest  with  which 
the  year  is  interspersed  are  like  patches  of  verdure, 
watered  by  ever-springing  fountains,  that  dot  the 
inhospitable  wilderness,  and  invite  its  fainting  tra- 
vellers to  exhilaration  and  repose.  They  are  the 
ports  that  fringe  the  sea  of  human  industry,  in 
which  the  distressed  bark  may  find  a  sure  anchor- 
age, and  where  it  may  renew  its  outfit  for  time  and 
for  eternity. 

Oh,  precious  day  !  the  workman's  jubilee — the 
slave's  release — the  shield  of  servitude — the  anti- 
dote of  weariness — the  suspension  of  the  curse  ! 
How  it  smoothes  the  brow  of  care !  How  it 
brightens  the  countenance  of  gloom !  How  it 
braces  the  enervated  limbs  of  labour !  How  it 
revives  the  drooping  spirit  of  despair !  How  it 
gives  wings  to  the  clogged  affections  and  aspira- 
tions of  the  soul !  How  it  pours  some  drops  of 
sweetness  on  the  bitterest  lot,  and  sheds  some 
gleams  of  sunshine  athwart  the  saddest  heart ! 
How  it  lifts  the  groveller  from  his  low  pursuits, 
and  fills  him  with  a  noble  self-respect !  How  it 
extinguishes  the  jealousies  and  rivalries  of  week- 
day occupations,  and  links  men's  hearts  in  the 
bonds  of  brotherhood !  It  does  homage  to  the 
glorious  attributes  of  the  man,  even  when  it  finds 
him  in  the  condition  of  the  serf  In  most  cases  it 
proclaims  to  the   servant   equal  liberty  with  the 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR.  11 

master.  It  is  a  perpetual  rebuke  to  the  reigning 
rapacity  of  the 'world.  It  deals  out,  with  even- 
handed  justice,  the  essential  rights  of  manhood,  to 
all  classes  alike ;  and  is  designed  to  protect  the 
poor  from  the  bribes  of  wealth,  and  the  weak  from 
the  encroachments  of  power. 

Companions  in  labour !  have  you  never  at- 
tempted to  compute  the  value  of  the  Sabbath,  even 
in  this,  the  meanest  of  its  uses,  as  a  provision  of 
rest  for  the  body  ?  Have  any  among  you  been 
wont  scornfully  to  repudiate  it,  as  an  institution 
originated  and  upheld  by  the  craft  of  priests  ?  Do 
you  regard  its  weekly  advent  as  an  unwelcome  in- 
trusion— as  a  perpetual  restriction  on  your  privi- 
leges, a  curb  to  your  enterprise,  and  a  sacrifice  to 
your  pocket  ?  Can  you  read  no  inscription  of  Di- 
vine loving-kindness  on  its  serene  brow,  and  dis- 
cover none  of  the  gifts  strewn  by  its  bountiful 
hands  ?  Are  you  accustomed  to  yawn  away  its 
lagging  hours  in  idleness,  or  sport  them  away  in 
folly  or  in  wantonness  ?  Oppressed  by  the  insip- 
idity of  inaction,  do  you  cry,  "  Oh,  what  a  weari- 
ness it  is  !  When  will  the  Sabbath  be  gone,  that 
we  may  sell  corn,  and  set  forth  the  refuse  of  the 
wheat  ? — that  we  may  dress  the  vineyard,  plough 
the  field,  weld  the  metal,  print  the  book,  weave  the 
cloth,  make  the  garment,  build  the  house,  or  garnish 
the  sepulchre  ?"  Brethren  !  reflect  seriously  on 
these  things ;  and  though  it  should  appear  that  the 
Sabbath  was  ordained  for  no  higher  purpose  than 


12  heaven's    antidote    to 

to  minister  to  the  animal  refreshment  of  man,  yet 
even  this  is  a  blessing  of  such  priceless  worth,  that 
to  wring  it  from  the  possession  of  society  would 
superinduce  a  catastrophe  too  frightful  to  contem- 
plate. 

That  the  Sabbath  is  no  modern  ecclesiastic  inno- 
vation, and  that  it  is  not  an  exploded  ordinance  of 
the  Jewish  economy  engrafted  upon  the  Christian 
system,  are  clear  frorii  acknowledged  records  of  a 
remote  antiquity  ;  sortoe  of  which  furnish  indubita- 
ble proofs  of  a  general  tradition  respecting  the 
primitive  Sabbath.  Hesiod,  who  lived  about  900 
years  before  the  advent  of  Christ,  says,  "  The  se- 
venth day  is  holy."  Homer,  who  sang  about  the 
same  period,  and  Callimachus,  likewise  a  Greek 
poet,  who  flourished  about  700  years  later,  allude 
to  the  seventh  day  as  holy.  Theophilus,  of  Anti- 
och,  says,  concerning  the  seventh  day,  "  The  day 
which  all  mankind  celebrate."  Porphyry  says, 
"  The  Phoenicians  consecrated  one  day  in  seven  as 
holy."  Lucian  remarks,  "  The  seventh  day  is 
given  to  school-boys  as  a  holiday."  Eusebius  ob- 
serves, "  Almost  all  the  philosophers  and  poets  ac- 
knowledge the  seventh  day  as  holy."  Clemens 
Alexandrinus  says,  "  The  Greeks,  as  well  as  the 
Hebrews,  observe  the  seventh  day  as  holy."  Jose- 
phus,  the  Jewish  historian,  says,  "No  city  of 
Greeks  or  barbarians  can  be  found  which  does  not 
acknowledge  a  seventh  day's  rest  from  labour." 
Philo  testifies,  "  The  seventh  day  is  a  festival  to 


THE     CURSE     OP     LABOUR.  13 

Thus,  through  a  long  succession 
of  ages,  a.nd  by  numerous  Gentile  nations,  who 
were  not  at  all  likely  to  adopt  any  one  of  the  ex- 
clusive rites  of  Judaism,  we  have  ample  evidence 
that  the  seventh  day  has  been  observed,  with  more 
or  less  of  religious  ceremonial,  as  a  period  of  re- 
laxation for  the  wearied  body,  and  as  a  temporary 
asylum  from  the  wasting  strifes  and  cares  of  life. 
The  illustrations  furnished  above  point  unquestion- 
ably to  vestiges  of  the  primeval  Sabbath,  instituted 
in  Paradise,  and  which  had  been  republished  to 
the  new  world  by  Noah  and  his  posterity — memo- 
rials of  which  were  thus  preserved  among  heathen 
races,  despite  the  prevalence  of  depravity  and  the 
growth  of  human  selfishness,  not  so  much  from 
veneration  for  the  high  authority  that  prescribed  it, 
as  from  an  appreciation  of  its  suitableness  and  pro- 
fitableness for  the  burdened  masses  of  mankind. 

A  really  sanctified  Sabbath  throughout  the  world 
would  exhibit  impressive  proofs  of  the  Divine  be- 
nignity, and  would  present  to  the  devout  mind, 
even  in  its  merely  picturesque  aspects,  one  of  the 
most  interesting  spectacles  that  could  be  witnessed 
upon  earth.  Go  forth  at  early  morning,  and  climb 
the  side  of  an  upland  peak,  contiguous  to  some 
thickly-peopled  city.  Gaze  eastward,  southward, 
westward,  and  northward — through  the  whole  cir- 
cuit travelled  by  the  sun — and  behold  the  delecta- 
ble representation  of  Sabbath  rest.  Every  sound 
breathes  softer ;  every  tint  gleams  brighter ;  every 


4* 


14  HEAVENS     ANTIDOTE     TO 

scene  seems  fresher.  Cast  thy  glance  across  the 
country — pass  from  field  to  field,  from  rill  to  river, 
from  alp  to  glen,  from  hill  to  valley,  from  grove  to 
grove,  from  one  cluster  of  human  dwellings  to  an- 
other, and  read  in  every  softened  feature  of  nature 
the  sweet  tranquillity  of  Sabbath  rest ! 

The  flocks  are  wandering  and  gambolling  in  the 
dells ;  the  cattle  are  grazing  on  the  hill-sides ;  and 
the  beasts  of  burden,  freed  from  their  yoke,  are 
feeding  on  the  open  plains.  The  plough  stands 
where  it  halted  in  its  course  across  the  furrows ; 
but  the  husbandman  is  gone  home  to  cultivate  his 
soul.  The  sound  of  the  axe  has  ceased  from  the 
forest,  and  the  prostrate  trees  lie  as  they  fell ;  but 
the  woodman  is  gone  away  to  ponder  on  the  sud- 
den death-stroke  that  may  lay  him  low,  or  is  on  his 
way  to  the  place  where  the  keen  axe  of  truth  will 
be  levelled  at  the  roots  of  his  stubborn  sins.  The 
mills  are  at  rest  on  every  hill-top,  but  their  inmates 
have  retired  to  their  habitations  to  garner  up  the 
corn  of  heaven.  Few  men  are  seen  abroad ;  they 
are  chiefly  at  home,  by  the  domestic  hearth,  beside 
the  family  altar,  teaching  groups  of  children,  watch- 
ing at  the  couch  of  sickness,  or  smoothing  the  pil- 
low, and  pouring  balmy  speech  into  the  ear  of  the 
dying.  Again  behold  and  rejoice  over  the  glorious 
benefits  of  Sabbath  rest ! 

Turn  next  towards  the  great  city,  rearing  its 
roofs,  chimneys,  steeples,  monuments,  and  huge 
masses  of  masonry  in  an  atmosphere  less  murky 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR.  15 

and  impure  than  that  which  broods  over  it  on  the 
other  days  of  the  week.  The  swarms  of  industry- 
are  now  hived.  The  mingled  hum  of  busy  multi- 
tudes, the  heavy  tramp  of  traffic,  the  rush  of  enter- 
prise, the  clamour  of  human  passions,  the  noise  of 
innumerable  tools  and  implements  of  handicraft, 
the  fierce  panting  of  engines,  the  ringing  of  anvils, 
and  tlie  furious  racings  of  machinery ;  the  shouts 
of  crowds,  the  brawls  of  drunkenness,  and  the 
planus  of  mendicant  misery,  are  all  sunk  into  si- 
lence, and  disturb  not  with  a  ripple  of  agitation  the 
still  Sabbath  air.  The  huge  factories  and  work- 
shops that  girdle  the  city,  and  which  are  the  foun- 
tains of  its  prosperity,  are  empty  and  dumb ;  and 
the  swarms  that  carry  on  their  earthly  burrowings 
in  those  warrens  of  industry  are  reposing  them- 
selves in  the  companionship  of  their  families.  The 
tall  ships  at  anchor  in  the  harbour  have  furled  their 
sails,  closed  down  their  hatches,  and  hid  from  all 
eyes  the  merchandise  treasured  in  their  holds, 
whilst  the  Bethel-flag  waves  amidst  a  forest  of 
masts,  and  they  that  go  down  to  the  sea,  and  do 
business  on  great  waters,  are  below,  studying  the 
chart  of  Revelation,  tracing  the  dangers  of  their 
life's  voyage,  and  anticipating  the  glad  hour  when, 
redeemed  from  every  peril,  and  borne  on  the  bosom 
of  a  favouring  tide,  they  shall  safely  moor  their 
bark  in  the  haven  of  eternal  life.  The  black  and 
dusty  wharves,  usually  the  Babel-scenes  of  confu- 
sion, are  cleared  of  their  hordes  of  porters,  and 


IG  heaven's    antidote    to 

clerks,  and  captains,  and  loitering  crews,  who  have 
cast  off  their  burdens  along  with  their  foul  skins 
and  rough  garments,  and  are  now  lading  them- 
selves with  the  rich  freightage  of  the  Holy  Word. 
The  merchant  has  quitted  the  desk  of  his  dusky- 
counting-house,  and  is  now,  in  secret  places,  turn- 
ing over  the  blotted  leaves  of  his  own  heart.  The 
shopman  has  left  his  counter,  the  weaver  his  loom, 
the  joiner  his  bench,  the  smith  his  forge,  and  the 
broker  his  stall,  for  the  new  Sabbath,  in  its  advent, 
has  published  to  all  its  tidings  of  liberty  and  rest. 

The  gates  of  the  temple  of  Mammon  are  shut, 
and  the  gods  of  gold  and  silver  are  forsaken  by 
their  week-day  devotees.  The  chiming  bells,  sound- 
ing alike  across  country  and  town,  are  calling  upon 
all  men  to  cut  the  cords  of  their  earth-bound 
thoughts  and  low  cares,  and  go  up  to  worship  at 
the  footstool  of  Jehovah;  and  the  tapering  spires, 
like  holy  fingers,  are  pointing  significantly  towards 
the  sky 

And  now  the  minister  is  descending  from  his 
study,  his  countenance  impressed  with  a  solemn 
sense  of  his  responsibility ;  the  saint  is  coming 
forth  refreshed  from  his  closet ;  the  pardoned  peni- 
tent is  rising  from  his  knees ;  the  evangelist  is  on 
his  way  to  his  mission  work ;  the  Sabbath-school 
teacher  is  pleading  with  his  class,  and  the  Christian 
matron  is  gently  leading  forth  her  children  to  the 
mountain  of  the  Lord's  house. 

At  length  a  new  traffic  fills  the  streets ;  a  grow- 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR.  17 

ing  bustle  stirs  the  air ;  a  new  scene  expands  be- 
fore the  eye.  Religious  assemblies  are  gathering 
the  major  part  of  the  population.  They  come 
from  the  spacious  squares  and  the  crowded  lanes ; 
they  are  seen  issuing  alike  from  the  lordly  palace 
and  the  plebeian  hut.  Trooping  together  are  seen 
gray-haired  sires  and  sprightly  youth ;  the  widow 
in  her  weeds  and  the  virgin  in  her  teens  ;  the  father 
in  hale  manhood  and  the  mother  in  her  charms; 
the  lofty  in  their  grandeur  and  the  lowly  in  tlieir 
simplicity;  the  mighty  in  their  pride  and  the  feeble 
in  their  meekness ;  the  healthy  in  their  bloom  and 
the  sickly  in  their  paleness ;  the  saint  with  his 
pleasant  gravity  and  the  sinner  with  his  indiffer- 
ence ;  the  coxcomb  in  his  daintiness  and  the  rustic 
in  his  rudeness.  They  pass  along,  not  with  the 
swift-footedness  of  week-day  enterprise,  but  with 
a  measured  step  and  gait,  befitting  the  solemn  asso- 
ciations of  the  day.  Gradually  their  numbers  are 
diminished,  and  ere  long  the  throng  has  disappeared, 
whilst  the  silence  of  the  streets  is  broken  only  by 
the  footfall  of  some  lonely  passenger.  They  are 
gone  to  the  places  where  the  rich  and  poor  meet 
together  on  terras  of  equality — where  world-made 
distinctions  are  effaced — and  where  one  common 
Father  looks  down,  with  impartial  benignity  and 
grace,  on  priest  and  people,  on  peer  and  pauper,  on 
sovereign  and  slave.  The  bells  grow  dumb  one  by 
one,  and  the  doors  of  the  sanctuaries  shut  in  their 
congregated  worshippers. 


IS  heaven's    antidote    to 

Organs  are  pealing  through  the  lofty  roofs  of  ca- 
thedrals, and  along  the  aisles  of  chnrches  ;  anthems 
arc  swelling  from  scores  of  unseen  chapels  ;  the 
glad  outbursts  of  thanksgiving  and  the  hallelujahs 
of  the  happy  are  mingling  in  the  air,  and  filling  the 
clear  vault  of  heaven  with  rich  harmony.  Then 
the  holy  breath  of  prayer  goes  up  like  fragrant  in- 
cense, ascending  to  the  sky;  after  which  the  manna 
of  the  word  is  scattered  round  the  camp,  and  the 
doctrines  of  grace  are  distilled  like  reviving  dew 
upon  the  parched  hearts  of  men.  Prayer  and 
praise  again  succeed,  and  then — convinced  by  some 
eloquent  ApoUos,  or  conscience-stricken  by  some 
vehement  Paul,  or  comforted  by  some  consoling 
Barnabas,  or  melted  by  some  fervent  John — the 
assemblies  break  up  and  return,  fervently  ejaculat- 
ing their  gratitude  for  the  priceless  privileges  of 
Sabbath  rest ! 

Alas  !  that  the  preceding  sketch  of  Sabbath  sanc- 
tification  should  seem  so  much  like  an  ideal  crea- 
tion. Its  observance,  in  the  most  favoured  spots 
of  our  world,  is  but  a  remote  approximation  to  its 
destined  quietude  and  purity.  The  picture  is  every- 
where blotted  and  blurred.  Clouds  of  human  de- 
pravity darken  its  divine  beauty.  The  greed  of 
covetousness  has  wrung  from  its  hands  some  of  its 
noblest  blessings,  while  the  natural  impiety  of 
man's  heart,  and  tlie  constraints  of  his  evil  habits, 
complete  the  awful  work  of  desecration.  God  has 
given  the  day,  and  blind  selfishness  not  only  wrongs 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR.  19 

itself  of  the  invaluable  boon,  but  would  lay  an 
embargo  upon  its  free  blessings  in  relation  to 
others  also.  Sloth  is  seen  foolishly  idling  away 
the  golden  hours.  Profaneness  is  heard  uttering 
its  coarse  jests  and  blasphemies  in  the  very  pre- 
cincts of  the  sanctuary.  Profligacy  comes  forth 
meretriciously  attired,  and,  heedless  of  rebuke, 
tracks  the  very  footsteps  of  the  pious.  The 
"  lovers  of  pleasure,"  transported  by  the  wild 
liberty  of  the  day,  rush  into  scenes  of  sinful  ex- 
citement— crowd  the  steamboats,  riot  in  suburban 
tea-gardens,  or  promenade  the  streets,  the  parks,  or 
the  river's  banks.  Trains  rush  across  the  startled 
country,  robbing  thousands  of  railway  servants  of 
their  heritage  of  rest,  and  pouring  influxes  of  dis- 
sipated strangers  into  quiet  villages  and  distant 
towns,  whence,  after  roaming  and  carousing  for 
hours,  they  are  again  borne  back  by  the  returning 
train,  but  not  without  having  given  an  additional 
stimulus  to  all  that  was  evil,  and  leaving  behind 
them  broad  sowings  of  demoralization,  destined  to 
spring  up  and  yield  a  wild  produce  of  corruption 
and  sorrow  in  future  years. 

II.     CLEANLINESS. 

The  Sabbath  is  productive  of  habits  of  cleanli- 
ness. Superficial  thinkers  might,  possibly,  pro- 
nounce this  alleged  advantage  to  be  foreign  and 
far-fetched;   but  a  dip  beneath  the  surface  will 


20  HEAVENS     ANTIDOTE     TO 

reveal  its  intimate  relation  to  the  day,  and  invest  it 
with  an  importance  that  cannot  well  be  exagge- 
rated. Recent  investigations  have  brought  to  light 
a  revolting  picture  of  squalor,  impurity,  and  wretcli- 
edness,  herding  together  in  the  crowded  avenues 
and  courts  of  our  great  towns  and  cities.  Philan- 
thropy has  pleaded  earnestly  and  long  for  the  re- 
moval of  these  nests  of  social  abomination,  and 
the  public,  catching  at  length  the  same  humane  in- 
spiration, are  sternly  demanding  that  sweeping 
sanatory  measures  should  be  adopted  to  get  rid  of 
these  receptacles  of  corruption  and  nurseries  of 
crime.  Now,  to  the  outcasts  self-banished  to  these 
regions,  the  Sabbath  never  comes !  In  vain  its 
morning  eye  peeps  kindly  in  at  the  patched  and 
gloomy  windows,  for  it  meeteth  no  recognition 
there !  In  vain  its  meridian  beams,  struggling 
through  the  murkiness  and  filth  above,  around,  be- 
neath, seek  to  shine  into  the  doorways  of  those 
den-like  homes,  for  they  are  quickly  quenched  by 
the  deep  darkness  that  abidetli  there  !  There  the 
Sabbath's  decencies  are  never  cultivated,  the  Sab- 
bath's peace  is  never  enjoyed,  the  Sabbath's  festi- 
val is  never  kept,  the  Sabbath's  blessing  is  never 
known  [ 

But  oh  !  what  augmented  numbers  of  the  work- 
ing classes  would  become  the  irredeemable  victims 
of  this  dark  lot  if  the  Sabbath  were  repealed  ! 
The  periodical  return  of  the  Sabbath  supplies  a 
powerful  motive  to  the  cultivation  of  the  proprie- 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR.  21 

ties  of  life.  It  promotes,  at  regularly  recurring  in- 
tervals, the  purification  of  the  dwelling,  the  cleans- 
ing oT  household  utensils,  and  the  lustration  and 
anointing  of  the  person.  By  what  washings  and 
purgings,  by  what  scourings  and  polishings,  by 
what  decorations  and  trimmings  is  its  near  ap- 
proach announced  !  What  multitudes  of  buckets, 
and  brushes,  and  dust  disturbers  are  called  into 
active  requisition,  and  what  streams  of  beautiful 
water  are  spoiled  to  remove  tlie  unclean  accumula- 
tions of  the  week,  and  to  offer  a  fitting  tribute  to 
the  purity  of  the  day.  The  greasy  coating  of 
mingled  dirt  and  perspiration,  deposited  day  by 
day  upon  the  surface  of  the  body,  is  cast  ofiT  with 
the  soiled  work-day  dress,  and  those  whose  calling 
brings  them  continually  into  defihng  contacts  are 
permitted  to  know  the  deliciousness  and  delight  of 
a  purified  skin. 

And  then,  when  the  day  of  hebdomadal  release 
arrives,  and,  denuded  of  every  badge  of  servitude, 
and  appareled  in  his  best  garments,  the  trans- 
formed artisan  steps  forth  from  his  abode  into  the 
presence  of  others  metamorphosed  like  himself, 
what  manly  and  dignified  feelings  are  awakened 
in  his  breast ;  and,  on  finding  himself  saluted  by 
his  superiors  in  station,  what  feelings  of  self- 
respect  will  arise  in  his  soul !  Thus  the  Sabbath 
counteracts  the  inevitable  tendency  of  the  servili- 
ties of  labour — it  is  perpetually  at  war  with  the 
sad  effects  of  the  curse,  for,  whilst  menial  occupa- 


22  heaven's    antidote    to 

tions  gradually  undermine  and  lower  a  man  in  his 
own  estimation,  and  shroud  the  excellence  of  his 
being  in  mysterious  darkness,  it  is  the  aim  of  the 
Sabbath,  by  the  hallowing  associations  into  which 
it  ushers  him,  to  impress  him  with  a  sense  of  the 
solemnity  of  his  position  and  the  grandeur  of  his 
destiny. 

It  is  impossible  to  overrate  the  beneficial  influ- 
ence of  the  habits  of  cleanliness  thus  superinduced, 
upon  the  health,  decencies,  and  morals  of  the  la- 
bouring population.  It  is  an  influence  so  constant 
in  its  operation,  and  so  comprehensive  in  its  range, 
that  none  but  the  most  abandoned  in  character  and 
condition  can  resist  its  assimilating  action,  and 
these  escape  it  only  by  fleeing  to  some  dark  retreat 
on  the  first  approach  of  the  Sabbath's  sun,  where 
they  will  hide  their  shame  and  filthiness  till  the 
Monday's  bustle  again  calls  them  forth,  to  prowl 
up  and  down  and  prey  upon  the- world.  Besides, 
this  luxury  of  purification  and  this  beauty  of  order, 
enjoyed  by  the  provident  and  thrifty  on  the  Sab- 
bath, by  no  means  terminate  with  the  close  of  that 
day,  but,  following  them  through  the  week,  and 
through  the  year,  and  through  the  successive  stages 
of  life,  materially  aid  in  the  formation  of  the  gene- 
ral character  of  that  great  class  among  the  people. 
For  those  who  are  accustomed  to  study  the  pheno- 
mena of  society  will  find  it  to  be  an  almost  inva- 
riable law,  that  improvidence  and  impurity  go 
hand  in  hand — that  profligacy  and  physical  filthi- 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR.  23 

ness  are  twin  evils,  whilst  devotion  ever  companies 
with  decency,  and  piety  has  always  a  fitting  sym- 
bol of  itself  in  external  cleanliness. 

Thus  one  benefit  comes  not  alone.  Cleanliness 
allures  and  leads  the  way  to  other  graces.  Physi- 
cal benefits  are  often  a  prelude  to  moral  blessings. 
The  appendages  of  the  body  become  a  true  index 
to  the  condition  of  the  mind.  The  dwelling,  like  a 
faithful  mirror,  reflects  from  every  side  an  image 
of  the  family,  and  household  life,  in  its  revolving 
phases,  is  but  the  visible  development  of  the  habits 
and  garniture  of  the  soul. 

The  objection  may  be  started  to  the  foregoing 
lines  of  argumentation,  that  if  the  Sabbath's  visita- 
tion did  not  present  its  appeals  to  the  cleanly  pro- 
pensities of  the  people,  other  opportunities  would 
be  sought  and  set  apart  by  them  for  the  realization 
of  so  desirable  an  object  as  that  at  which  we  have 
glanced. 

But  when,  we  seriously  ask,  are  such  opportuni- 
ties, recurring  Avith  suflicient  frequency,  to  be 
found  ?  When  would  there  occur  such  a  conflu- 
ence of  powerful  motives,  favoured  by  adequate 
leisure,  as  would  stimulate,  not  here  and  there  an 
isolated  individual  or  a  solitary  family  only,  but 
large  masses  of  the  working  classes,  to  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  proprieties  and  amenities  of  life  ? 
Where,  amid  the  fierce  contentions,  the  grinding 
extortions,  the  lustful  rivalries,  and  the  everlasting 
labours    of    a    Sabbathless    world,   would    these 


24  heaven's    antidote    to 

blessed  pauses  be  met  with  ?  Nay,  the  spirit  of 
the  mechanic  would  be  so  paralysed  and  abased  as 
to  make  him  utterly  reckless  of  all  decent  appear- 
ances. Every  finer  instinct  and  every  germ  of 
greatness  would  perish  in  his  nature ;  and  these 
gone,  and  together  with  them  every  facility  and  in- 
centive to  self-improvement,  the  man  would  dege- 
nerate into  the  brute,  and  communities  of  such 
beings  would  become  awful  scourges  in  the  earth. 
We  solemnly  believe  that  the  Sabbath  alone,  by 
its  universal  provisions,  its  benignant  restraints,  and 
its  proclamations  of  mercy,  stands  angel-like  be- 
tween us  and  this  abyss  of  ruin. 

III.    HEALTH. 

The  Sabbath  is  eminently  conducive  to  health. 
Health  consists  in  the  proper  performance  of  the 
functions  of  those  organs  which  constitute  the 
body  of  man :  it  is  the  perfection  of  the  physical 
system.  The  preservation  of  health  depends  upon 
the  maintenance  of  the  energy  of  the  living  func- 
tions, which,  when  severely  tasked  by  protracted 
labour,  can  only  be  restored  by  commensurate  re- 
pose and  recreation,  and  by  such  other  exercises  as 
tend  to  impart  vivacity  and  exhilaration  to  the 
mind.  Now,  these  indispensable  advantages,  as 
we  have  attempted  to  show,  are  guaranteed  by  the 
Sabbath,  and  that  in  far  more  abundance  and  with 
greater  certainty  than  could  be  otherwise  secured. 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR.  25 

The  weekly  Sabbath  comes  to  sprinkle  its  reviving 
dews  on  the  hot  brow  of  industry,  and  administer 
the  elixir  of  life  to  a  fainting  world. 

A  moderate  amomit  of  physical  effort,  propor- 
tioned to  the  degree  of  muscular  energy  possessed, 
and  interspersed  by  intervals  of  refreslmient,  con- 
tributes decidedly  to  the  development  of  the 
strength  and  well-being  of  the  frame ;  but  wher- 
ever the  tasks  of  toil  are  pitilessly  multiplied — 
where  the  shoulders  can  never  throw  off  the  yoke 
— where  the  spur  is  ceaselessly  applied  to  the  poor 
fettered  slave — such  a  course  of  stimulation  must 
strain  and  derange  the  delicate  mechanism,  engen- 
der disease  and  premature  decay,  and  goad  the 
body,  with  unnatural  swiftness,  into  the  bosom  of 
a  welcome  grave. 

Health  is  unquestionably  the  greatest  temporal 
blessing  sweetening  the  condition  of  those  who  are 
dependent  for  their  subsistence  on  manual  labour. 
It  is  the  chief  element  in  the  scanty  capital  of  the 
poor  operative.  Rob  him  of  this,  and  you  reduce 
him  to  pauperism  and  want.  While  health  tints 
his  countenance,  nerves  his  arm,  wings  his  feet, 
exhilarates  his  spirits,  and  pours  a  spring-tide  of 
energy  through  the  channels  of  life,  the  robust  me- 
chanic will  sport  with  labour,  laugh  at  poverty,  and 
find  existence  to  be  a  luxury  and  a  joy.  But, 
when  the  health  sickens  and  the  strength  declines 
— when  the  arm  hangs  pithless  and  the  eye  grows 
dull — then  it  is  that  confidence  reels,  the  buoyant 

5*  E2 


26  heaven's    antidote    to 

spirits  droop,  and  hope — that  heavenly  guest,  which 
is  the  first  to  come  and  the  last  to  leave  the  human 
bosom — languishes  and  dies.  It  is  a  sorrowful 
sight  to  behold  the  delicate  and  sickly  compelled 
by  dire  necessity  to  bend  their  weakness  to  efforts 
suited  only  to  the  athletic — to  see  the  shriveled 
limb  straining  its  feebleness  to  earn  so-me  scanty 
pittance,  and  the  decrepid  form  borne  to  the  dust 
in  painfulness  beneath  its  cruel  load.  Yet  such 
sights  are  at  present  mournfully  common  in  our 
world.  We  cannot  walk  along  our  streets,  or  visit 
the  retreats  of  industry  and  the  marts  of  business, 
without  having  our  eyes  grieved  and  our  hearts 
pained  by  their  recurrence. 

But  if  man  fade  so  rapidly,  with  a  seventh  por- 
tion of  his  time  consecrated  to  rest  and  renovation, 
then  what  imagination  can  conceive  the  frightful 
condition  into  which  he  would  be  plunged  if  the 
barriers  of  the  Sabbath  were  hurled  down,  and  re- 
clining humanity  were  summoned  from  its  repose 
to  commence  a  life  of  uninterrupted  bondage  !  If 
the  wear  and  tear  of  the  beautiful  machine  be  at- 
tended with  so  much  mischief  now,  how  fearful 
would  be  the  destruction  of  health  and  life  under  a 
system  so  grinding  and  ruthless  !  How  dreary  and 
death-like  would  the  world  become !  Its  work- 
shops would  resemble  the  wards  of  some  mighty 
hospital,  tenanted  by  the  pining  victims  of  intense 
toil.  Manhood  would,  in  one  or  two  generations, 
lose  all  its  characteristic  strength ;  youth  would  be 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR.  27 

smitten  with  a  fatal  blight  ere  it  had  half  attained 
its  growth,  and  hale  old  age  would  soon  become  a 
prodigy  to  be  wondered  at  in  the  land. 

Yokefellows !  think  how  the  abstraction  of  the 
Sabbath  would  hopelessly  enslave  the  working 
classes,  with  whom  we  are  identified.  Think  of 
labour  thus  going  on  in  one  monotonous  and  eter- 
nal cycle — the  limbs  for  ever  on  the  rack,  the  fing- 
ers for  ever  plying,  the  eye-balls  for  ever  straining, 
the  brow  for  ever  sweating,  the  feet  for  ever  plod- 
ding, the  brain  for  ever  throbbing,  the  shoulders 
for  ever  drooping,  the  loins  for  ever  aching,  and 
the  restless  mind  for  ever  scheming.  Think — as 
your  imagination  beholds  the  unvarying  wheel  of 
work,  the  tread-mill  of  labour,  thus  going  round, 
and  round,  and  round,  without  a  change,  without  a 
pause,  from  morn  to  night,  from  moon  to  moon, 
and  from  year  to  year — think,  if  you  can,  of  the 
desolations  that  must  follow  this  absolute  reign  of 
labour  over  the  whole  realm  of  time.  Think  of 
the  beauty  it  would  efface;  of  the  merry-hearted- 
ness  it  would  extinguish;  of  the  giant  strengths 
that  it  would  tame ;  of  the  resources  of  nature  that 
it  would  exhaust;  of  the  aspirations  it  would 
crush;  of  the  sicknesses  that  it  would  breed;  of 
the  projects  it  would  wreck;  of  the  groans  that  it 
would  extort;  of  the  lives  that  it  would  immolate; 
and  of  the  cheerless  graves  that  it  would  prema- 
turely dig !  See  them,  toiling  and  moiling,  sweat- 
ing and  fretting,  grinding  and  hewing,  weaving 


28  heaven's    antidote    to 

and  spinning,  strewing  and  gathering,  sowing  and 
reaping,  razing  and  building,  digging  and  planting, 
unlading  and  storing,  striving  and  struggling  ; — in 
the  garden  and  in  the  field,  in  the  granary  and  in 
the  barn,  in  the  factory  and  in  the  mill,  in  the  ware- 
house and  in  the  shop,  on  the  mountain  and  in  the 
ditch,  on  the  road-side  and  in  the  wood,  in  the  city 
and  in  the  country,  on  the  sea  and  on  the  shore,  on 
the  earth  and  in  the  earth,  in  days  of  brightness 
and  days  of  gloom,  in  hours  of  sun  and  seasons  of 
storm,  in  times  of  trouble  and  times  of  peace,  in 
the  heights  of  day  and  in  the  depths  of  night, 
through  the  savageness  of  winter  and  through  the 
gentleness  of  spring,  in  the  energy  of  youth  and  in 
the  impotence  of  age,  when  health  is  merrily  danc- 
ing in  the  blood,  and  when  disease  is  eating  up  the 
strength,  when  death  is  in  the  lonely  home,  and 
when  happy  life  encircles  the  hearth ; — thus  the 
wheel  of  labour  would  go  round  with  the  earth, 
and  the  children  of  industry,  chained  to  its  surface, 
must  follow  its  ruinous  circumvolutions,  till,  ex- 
hausted by  unnatural  efforts,  they  relax  their  hold, 
drop  off,  and  suddenly  disappear  ! 

The  worn-out  wayfarer,  finding  no  verdant  rest- 
ing place,  and  no  house  of  entertainment  to  cheer 
him  in  his  travel,  must  sink  at  length  on  the  road- 
side and  miserably  perish.  The  delicate  and  the 
fragile  would  be  speedily  "crushed,"  by  such  a 
doom,  "before  the  moth."  Feeble  constitutions, 
that  with  a  seventh  day's  fostering  care  might  eke 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR.  29 

out  their  residue  of  strength  for  many  years,  would 
be  broken  down  with  a  sudden  crash.  Incipient 
diseases,  which  nature,  invigorated  by  adequate 
rest,  might  overgrow,  would  be  developed  with  a 
deadly  rapidity.  An  intenser  labour  would  be 
found  a  dreadful  forcer  of  the  seeds  and  rudiments 
of  decay  which  are  imbedded,  more  or  less  plenti- 
fully, in  all  of  us.  Under  the  vassalage  of  such  a 
gigantic  oppressor  as  unrestricted  labour,  earth 
would  reek  with  the  sufferings  of  her  offspring, 
while  the  all-absorbing  prayer  of  her  millions  would 
be  for  "  Rest !  Rest !  Rest !"  or  the  quiet  slumber 
of  the  grave  ! 

Oh,  glorious  Sabbath !  almoner  and  nurse  of 
health  !  we,  the  children  of  toil,  flee  to  the  shadow 
of  thy  protection.  Thou  standest  beside  us,  like 
some  guardian  spirit,  casting  over  us  the  shield  of 
thine  excellency,  enfolding  our  jaded  powers  in  thy 
sustaining  arms,  and  saying  to  the  encroaching  tide 
of  human  selfishness,  "  Hitherto  shalt  thou  come, 
but  no  further ;  and  here  shall  thy  proud  waves  be 
stayed."  May  thy  bulwarks,  notwithstanding  all 
hostile  assaults,  stand  strong  as  the  everlasting 
hills,  and  be,  in  all  coming  ages,  for  a  refuge  and  a 
covert  to  the  children  of  men  ! 


30  heaven's    antidote    to 


II.     THE    MERCANTILE    ADVANTAGES   OF   THE 
SAJ3BATH. 

We  have  dwelt  somewhat  at  length  upon  the 
physical  benefits  resulting  from  the  observance  of 
the  Sabbath — contemplating  it  as  the  couch  espe- 
cially provided  for  the  repose  of  the  prostrated 
powers  of  industry ;  as  a  season  eminently  adapted 
to  lure  to  the  cultivation  of  all  the  graces  and  re- 
finements of  civilization,  and  as  a  provision  designed 
to  replenish  the  impoverished  springs  upon  which 
an  energetic  condition  of  health  and  strength  de- 
pends. But,  besides  these  advantages,  we  believe 
it  is  capable  of  proof,  that  the  suspension  of  all 
secular  employment  on  the  Sabbath  contributes 
directly  to  the  pecuniary  interests  of  the  working 
classes.  This  assertion  will,  perhaps,  excite  a  mo- 
mentary surprise  in  those  who  have  have  only 
viewed  the  subject  with  the  eye  of  covetousness, 
and  under  the  bias  of  a  sordid  heart.  But,  after 
pondering  well  the  few  rudimental  thoughts  we 
are  about  to  submit,  we  think  they  will  arrive  at 
a  thorough  conviction  of  the  soundness  of  this 
somewhat  startling  proposition. 

For  the  sake  of  perspicuity,  we  shall  divide  the 
working  classes  of  our  country  into  two  distinct 
branches — the  two  great  arterial  streams  of  pro- 
duction, that  supply  the  necessities  of  the  social 
body,  and  that  create  the  wealth  of  the  empire — 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR.  31 

viz.,  our  mechanics  and  our  agricultural  labourers ; 
the  former  division  comprehending  our  manufac- 
turing operatives,  our  artificers,  the  workers  in 
metals,  and  those  following  numerous  other  skilful 
crafts ;  and  the  latter  branch  comprising  all  farm 
servants,  or  individuals  engaged  in  the  production 
of  food.  Let  us  first  view  the  subject  in  relation 
to  the  mechanical  department  of  labour,  by  whose 
agencies  we  are  furnished  with  all  the  external  ne- 
cessities and  luxurious  appendages  of  life  ;  such  as 
our  apparel  a}id  all  our  personal  ornaments,  our 
dwellings,  with  all  their  garniture  and  utensils,  and 
our  libraries,  with  their  literary  stores. 

The  addition  of  the  Sabbath  to  the  established 
period  of  labour,  would  be  attended  by  such  con- 
sequences as  are  greatly  to  be  deprecated  by  those 
whose  hands  are  obliged  to  minister  to  their  daily 
wants.  They  are  these  : — increased  production, 
diminished  consumption,  a  new  stimulus  to  compe- 
tition, and  a  reduction  of  wages.  If  these  efi'ects 
can  be  shown  to  be  the  legitimate  fruit  yielded  by 
the  secularization  of  the  seventh  day,  we  shall 
have  done  much  towards  winning  for  it  a  higher 
and  warmer  estimate  on  the  part  of  many  who 
have  been  wont  to  regard  its  observance  with 
grudging  aversion.  If  the  former  two  results  men- 
tioned can  be  satisfactorily  proved,  the  latter  two, 
at  least  in  a  country  like  ours,  depressed  by  a  su- 
perabundant population,  must  inevitably  follow. 


32  heaven's   antidote    to 


I.   INCREASED   PRODUCTION. 

The  appropriation  of  the  Sabbath  to  worldly 
occupations  would  be  accompanied  by  increased 
production.  That  is,  the  fruit  of  our  manufactur- 
ing exertions  would  be  multiplied,  just  in  propor- 
tion to  the  additional  period  of  time  devoted  to  la- 
bour. We  are  aware  that  this  position  is  by  no 
means  certain — that  it  is  based,  perhaps,  upon  a 
fallacy.  But  then  the  alternative  of  relinquishing 
it  would  tell  fearfully  against  the  interests  of  our 
overtasked  artisans,  and  would  disclose  such  a 
state  of  things  as  Christians,  philanthropists,  pa- 
triots, and  statesmen  must  alike  deplore.  However, 
as  it  is  our  intention  to  recur  to  this  surmised  objec- 
tion again,  we  shall  for  the  present  assume  the 
proposition  to  be  sound,  and  give  the  working 
people  of  England  the  full  benefit  thereof  We 
shall  now  attempt  simply  to  furnish  some  illustra- 
tions of  its  truth  and  validity.  It  is  very  clear  that, 
all  things  being  equal,  the  result  of  a  man's  indus- 
try who  works  six  days  or  sixty  hours,  would  be 
exceeded  one-sixth  by  the  result  of  seven  days'  or 
seventy  hours'  work  per  week.  Only  let  this  prin- 
ciple be  expanded  over  the  whole  field  of  labour, 
and  the  aggregate  result  must  be  of  the  same  na- 
ture as  that  in  every  individual  case.  Thus,  then, 
it  follows,  that  the  present  amount  of  manufac- 
tured stock,  annually  produced  from  the  raiv  mate- 
rial, would  be  multiplied  in  the  proportion  of  one- 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR.  33 

sixth,  by  the  abstraction  of  the  Sabbath  from  rest, 
which  would  be  an  increase  equivalent  to  the  sud- 
den influx  of  nearly  a  million  fresh  operatives. 
Now  the  question  for  the  working  classes  to  con- 
sider is,  would  this  increase  of  production  be  ad- 
vantageous or  detrimental  to  their  interests?  Would 
it  promote  their  prosperity  and  independence,  or 
conduce  to  their  depression  and  servility  ?  Would 
it  tend  to  their  progressive  enrichment,  or  would  it 
hang  at  length  like  a  mill-stone  about  their  necks, 
and  drag  them  down  to  the  depths  of  wretched- 
ness ?  Is  there  a  fair  prospect  of  disposing  of  this 
immense  excess  of  production?  Are  there  markets 
available  for  this  purpose  ?  Are  the  ports  of  the 
world's  commerce  opening  so  rapidly  to  our  trading 
enterprise,  that  there  can  be  no  reason  to  fear  lest 
the  supply  should  exceed  the  demand,  lest  our 
marts  of  merchandise  should  be  glutted,  and  our 
warehouses  crammed  with  unsaleable  goods?  In- 
creased production,  to  any  extent,  could  be  attended 
by  no  evils,  if  consumption,  domestic  or  foreign, 
kept  pace  with  it.  Do  the  signs  of  the  times  indi- 
cate the  probable  advent  of  such  a  state  of  mer- 
cantile prosperity  ?  We  trow  not ;  but  rather  the 
reverse.  So  far,  indeed,  is  it  from  being  the  case 
now,  that  we  are  in  exactly  the  opposite  condition. 
Our  manufacturhig  industry  already  furnishes  more 
than  home  necessities  and  foreign  purchases  com- 
bined can  remuneratingly  take  off.  Even  now, 
during  some  portion  of  every  year,  tens  of  thou- 


6 


34  heaven's    antidote    to 

sands  of  operatives  are  without  emyloyment,  or  arc 
compelled  to  abridge  their  hours  of  labour ;  whilst 
ever  and  anon  some  commercial  crisis  convulses 
the  frame-work  of  society,  drives  multitudes  forth 
from  their  cells  of  industry,  and  sends  them  drifting 
through  the  land — a  famishing  and  beggared  race  ! 
The  effect  of  the  secularization  of  the  seventh  day 
would  be  to  augment  and  aggravate  these  terrible 
evils.     But  this  is  not  all.     It  would  lead  to 


II.  DIMINISHED    CONSUMPTION. 

Storehouses  gorged  w^ith  surplus  merchandise  on 
the  one  hand,  and  a  visible  decline  in  the  trading 
prosperity  of  a  nation  on  the  other,  generally  go 
together.  The  falling  off,  in  the  case  we  are  as- 
suming, would  affect  the  staple  commodities  of 
business — food,  apparel,  and  furniture ;  and  this 
decline  would  result  mainly  from  these  two  causes: 
— first,  the  non-employment  of  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  men,  women,  and  children,  whose  ordinary 
week-day  operations  would  be  superseded  by  the 
labours  of  the  Sabbath,  and  who  would,  therefore, 
be  incapacitated  from  obtaining  any  of  the  com- 
forts, and  but  a  few  scanty  morsels  of  the  necessa- 
ries of  life ; — and  a  second  source  of  this  decline 
would  exist  in  the  diminished  requirements  of  the 
working  classes  themselves  for  the  indulgences  of 
life.     A  population,  despoiled  of  its  holidays,  and 


THE     CURSE     OP     LABOUR.  35 

brutalized  by  ceaseless  toil,  would  have  little  taste, 
and  less  leisure,  for  the  acquisition  of  such  things. 
The  extension  of  our  work  over  another  day  of 
the  week  would  not  create  one  new  want,  nor  add 
any  keenness  to  those  already  felt.  No  more  food 
would  be  consumed  in  consequence,  even  with  the 
sharpest  appetite  that  labour  could  impart ;  for  the 
Sabbath  is,  proverbially,  with  the  thrifty  poor,  a 
day  of  feasting  and  good  fare.  The  dwelling 
would  Eoast  of  no  richer  garniture  in  consequence  ; 
no  tasteful  ornaments  would  be  seen  scattered  about 
the  room,  when  there  would  be  no  neighbours  to 
drop  in  to  admire  the  cottage  tidiness.  Alas  !  under 
such  a  system,  how  soon  would  the  pride  of  house- 
wifery be  swept  away,  and  nothing  but  the  meanest 
utensils  would  remain  to  relieve  the  nakednesss  of 
the  domestic  abode.  And  then,  no  more  wearing 
apparel  would  be  required  in  consequence.  On 
the  contrary,  every  inducement  to  procure  showy 
and  costly  attire  would  be  withdrawn.  What  mil- 
lions then  would  never  change  the  clothes  that 
served  them  well  enough  for  the  drudgeries  of  life ! 
It  is  impossible  to  calculate  how  great  a  portion  of 
the  working  classes  are  indebted  for  their  prosperity 
to  the  Sunday  suits  worn  by  the  industrious  mil- 
lions. When  we  take  into  consideration  the  hands 
employed  in  manufacturing  and  beautifying  the 
stuffs  of  which  they  are  composed — in  distributing 
and  retaihng  them  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  land — and  the  everlasting  stitch. 


36  heaven's   antidote   to 

stitchj  stitch^  in  fashioning  them  into  vestments  of 
elegance  and  beauty — we  shall  have  some  concep- 
tion of  the  multitudes  that  draw  their  subsistence 
from  this  source  alone. 

Perhaps  it  may  be  urged  against  this  view,  that, 
if  the  lower  orders  did  not  purchase  their  dresses 
for  Sabbath  use,  they  would,  nevertheless,  procure 
them  for  other  occasions.  This  would  undoubtedly 
be  the  case,  to  some  extent,  among  the  better  class 
of  artificers,  but  would  still,  we  apprehend,  leave 
a  serious  defalcation  in  the  demand  for  goods  of 
other  qualities.  For  it  should  be  remembered  that, 
with  multitudes,  the  Sunday  suit  is  quite  distinct 
in  material  from  the  clothing  required  by  them  in 
following  their  respective  crafts.  Whether  these 
festive  habiliments  are  worn  partly  for  the  gratifi- 
cation of  pride,  is  not  now  the  question  for  us  to 
discuss.  We  have  here  to  consider  it  simply  as  an 
element  of  comparative  mercantile  prosperity,  or 
depression — as  a  matter  of  pounds,  shillings,  and 
pence,  in  relation  to  the  condition  of  the  produc- 
tive classes.  And,  so  -considered,  the  diminished 
consumption  of  the  staple  articles  above  mentioned, 
would  reduce  myriads  of  industrious  families  to 
destitution,  and  would  recoil  fearfully  upon  the 
cupidity  of  man. 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR.  37 


III.   INCREASED    COMPETITION    AND    REDUCTION    OF    WAGES. 

From  a  redundancy  of  production  and  an  abated 
demand,  must  follow  increased  competition  and 
reduction  of  wages.  With  less  work  to  be  per- 
formed, with  a  multiplying  number  of  operatives, 
and  with  more  time  by  one-sixth  in  which  to  exer- 
cise their  callings,  there  would  arise,  of  necessity, 
sharper  emulations  among  those  who  have  no  pro- 
perty besides  their  hands  and  their  health — nothing 
wherewith  to  support  themselves  and  feed  their 
families  save  their  skill  and  labour.  Men  thus  cir- 
cumstanced, in  order  to  secure  some  few  crumbs  at 
nature's  table,  would  be  found  struggling  desper- 
ately with  their  fellows,  beating  each  other  down 
to  such  a  minimum  of  remuneration  as  would 
barely  suffice  for  the  necessaries  of  life.  In  a  race 
where  all  the  competitors  could  not  win,  each  one 
would  strive,  at  whatever  hazards,  to  be  himself 
the  successful  candidate :  "  Skin  for  skin,  yea,  all 
that  a  man  hath  will  he  give  for  his  life."  Now, 
it  would  be  utterly  impossible  for  an  adequate  rate 
of  wages  to  be  maintained  amid  the  inroad  of  such 
evils  upon  the  social  economy.  They  must  conti- 
nue to  sink  lower  and  lower  towards  the  point  of 
utter  penury  and  distress. 

If  the  abrogation  of  the  Sabbatical  rest  were  not 
attended  by  the  results  we  have  predicted,  then  it 
would  be  in  consequence  of  the  two  following 
facts  : — viz.,  that  seven  days'  uninterrupted  labour 


6* 


38  heaven's    antidote    to 

is  not  more  productive  than  six  days'  toil,  supple- 
mented by  a  day  of  rest ;  for  it  should  be  remem- 
bered, that  time  is  but  one  of  the  many  elements 
conducing  to  efficient  and  fruitful  labour.  Vigour 
of  limb,  buoyancy  of  spirit,  and  a  joyous  sense  of 
freedom,  are  almost  equally  essential ; — and  again, 
that  the  mortality  of  our  species,  occasioned  by 
this  grinding  system,  would  be  increased  to  such  a 
frightful  extent,  as  continually  to  relieve  the  over- 
gorged  labour-market  of  its  surplus  hands.  We 
leave  the  abettors  of  Sabbath  abolition  to  decide 
on  which  of  the  horns  of  this  dilemma  they  choose 
to  be  impaled. 

But  we  must  now  offer  a  word  or  two  respect- 
ing the  bearings  of  the  question  on  the  husband- 
men of  our  land.  By  the  growth  of  the  rural 
population,  and  the  extensive  displacement  of 
manual  labour  by  the  introduction  of  machinery, 
the  wages  of  this  great  body  of  our  yokefellows 
have  been  already  frittered  down  well  nigh  to  a 
famishing  point.  But,  miserable  as  is  their  condi- 
tion at  present,  seven  days'  toil  in  every  week 
would  only  serve  to  aggravate  its  horrors.  A  sixth 
portion  of  those  at  present  employed,  would  be 
immediately  expelled  from  the  soil,  billeted  upon 
the  large  towns,  and  drafted  into  other  occupations  ; 
or,  disappointed  in  their  most  vigilant  efforts  thus 
to  found  for  themselves  a  home  by  dint  of  honest 
industry,  they  would  be  compelled  to  take  refuge 
within  the  precincts  of  some  union-house ;  or  else, 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR.  39 

by  the  pressure  of  their  wants,  would,  under  the 
influence  of  exasperated  feelings,  be  goaded  into 
the  commission  of  crimes  that  would  embitter  all 
their  days,  and  darken  the  once  bright  prospect  of 
their  eternal  future.  Whilst,  at  the  same  time, 
those  who  continued  to  plod  at  the  employments 
of  husbandry  would  soon  discover  that  the  pitiful 
sum,  at  which  their  sweat  and  strength  were  valued, 
would  undergo  no  rise  in  consequence  of  their 
multiplied  tasks :  they  would  receive  the  same  in- 
sulting pittance  for  seven  days'  labour  that  they 
had  formerly  received  for  six ;  for  it  is  not  the 
question,  with  many  of  their  oppressors,  what  re- 
muneration their  hard  services  deserve,  but  upon 
how  little  of  human  fare  the  sons  of  the  soil  can 
labour  and  exist. 

The  foregoing  considerations  disclose  to  us  this 
fact — that  we  do  not  need  the  Sabbath  for  mercan- 
tile, manufacturing,  or  agricultural  pursuits,  and 
that  it  is  clearly  the  pecuniary  interest  of  working 
men  in  particular  to  resist  to  the  utmost  all  the  en- 
croachments of  unnecessary  labour  upon  that  day. 
In  volunteering  their  own  services,  either  out  of 
contempt  for  the  day,  or  through  a  longing  for  un- 
hallowed gains,  or  in  countenancing  the  enthral- 
ment  of  their  fellows,  they  are  fighting  against 
themselves,  and  plunging  a  dagger  into  the  heart 
of  their  own  prosperity.  Rather  let  the  whole 
community  of  labour,  with  unity  of  soul,  rise  to 


40  heaven's    antidote    to 

withstand  every  insidious  attempt  to  wrest  from 
them  this  magna  chart  a  of  their  rights,  as  the  free 
creatures  of  God ! 


III.    THE    INTELLECTUAL   ADVANTAGES   OF   THE 
SABBATH. 

We  have  hitherto  confined  our  iUustrations  of 
the  value  of  this  institution  to  its  meaner  uses — 
as  a  benevolent  provision,  conservative  of  the  well- 
being  and  happiness  of  the  body,  and  as  an  econo- 
mical arrangement,  conducive  to  the  wealth  and 
prosperity  of  the  empire,  but  we  now  propose  to 
advance  a  step  further,  and  view  the  Sabbath  in 
its  adaptation  to  the  higher  attributes  and  more 
dignified  relationships  of  man.  He  errs  guiltily 
who  regards  the  mechanic  simply  as  a  curious 
piece  of  mechanism,  consisting  of  brains,  and 
bones,  and  muscles,  and  nerves,  endowed  with  ex- 
traordinary capabilities  of  labour,  and  who  treats 
him  precisely  as  he  would  any  other  piece  of  ma- 
chinery, casting  him  oif  when  no  longer  service- 
able. 

Man  is  a  being  of  mysterious  complexity,  and 
he  who,  in  subjugating  his  powers  to  menial  tasks, 
overlooks  or  blinks  this  fact,  commits  a  sacrilege 
upon  his  nature.  Whilst  there  is  nothing  too  low 
or  groveling  for  him  to  stoop  to,  there  is,  at  the 
same  time,  nothing  too  high  to  be  attainable  by 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR.  41 

his  ambitio"n.  While  his  feet  tread  the  ground,  his 
brow  fronts  the  sky.  While  his  hands  turn  the  sod, 
tug  at  the  oar,  or  ply  the  loom,  his  soul,  in  its  spi- 
ritual outgoings,  may  be  roaming  among  the  stars. 
The  extremes  of  majesty  and  meanness  thus  meet 
in  his  nature.  His  perishing  body  establishes  his 
affinity  with  the  dust,  while  his  indestructible  spirit 
links  him  with  the  heavens.  His  limbs  furnish  him 
with  instruments  fitted  for  labour,  but  his  intellect 
qualifies  him  for  thought.  The  meanest  serf,  whose 
figure  is  bowed  earthwards  by  the  hardships  of  his 
lot,  is  invested  with  an  immortal  mind — all  un- 
hewn, and  shapeless,  and  beautiless  it  may  be,  but 
still  lying  there,  imbedded  in  the  deep  mines  of  his 
nature — dungeoned  in  darkness,  peradventure,  but 
still  ahve,  looking  hopefully  through  its  bars,  and 
struggling  to  be  free — void  and  unfashioned  now, 
but  with  capacities  for  treasuring  up  a  vast  fund  of 
ideas — poor  and  talentless  in  its  present  state,  but 
nevertheless  a  mint  that  may  hereafter  coin  and 
give  currency  to  its  intellectual  opulence — barren 
and  birthless  now,  but  containing  in  its  womb  the 
dormant  rudiments  of  noble  purposes,  startling  dis- 
coveries, beneficent  deeds,  or  mighty  revolutions. 
The  annals  of  politics,  the  chronicles  of  science, 
and  the  archives  of  religion,  bear  witness  to  the 
bountiful  upspringings  of  great  and  good  men  from 
these  uninclosed  wastes  of  humanity.  Science  can 
boast  of  its  Kepler,  its  Ferguson,  its  Watt,  its  New- 
ton, and  its  Stephenson ;  and  literature  can  point. 


42  heaven's    antidote    to 

amidst  innumerable  others,  to  the  names  of  Eras- 
mus, Shakspeare,  and  Burns — all  these  having 
sprung  from  the  loins  of  labour.  Philanthropy  has 
called  some  from  the  forge  and  from  the  anvil  to 
the  more  blessed  work  of  fusing  hostile  hearts  and 
welding  human  sympathies.  Religion,  too,  has  ever 
selected  her  bravest  and  lioliest  champions  from 
among  the  "  common  people."  In  primitive  times 
she  found  her  John,  and  James,  and  Peter,  follow- 
ing the  occupation  of  fishermen  on  the  banks  of 
the  Galilean  lake,  and,  taking  them  from  thence, 
made  them  the  apostles  of  her  sublime  revelations  ; 
and,  in  this  late  age  of  missions,  she  has  drawn  her 
most  illustrious  Christian  heroes — her  Martyn,  her 
Brainerd,  her  Carey,  her  WiUiams,  her  Knibb,  and 
her  Moffat — from  similar  spheres  of  social  obscu- 
rity, and  sent  them  forth  to  humanize,  regenerate, 
and  redeem  mankind. 

Such  being  the  inherent  grandeur  of  man,  even 
when  found  in  the  rudest  condition  and  fulfihing  the 
humblest  functions,  we  may  reasonably  suppose 
that  the  Sabbath,  being  made  express^  for  man, 
whilst  it  ministered  refreshment  to  his  corporeal 
frame,  would  not  overlook  the  higher  necessities  of 
his  compound  nature.  Nor  are  we  disappointed  in 
these  expectations.  The  Sabbath  has  a  two-fold 
function  to  perform.  It  comes  to  give  rest  to  mat- 
ter and  liberty  to  mind.  Whilst  it  soothes  the 
senses,  it  unleashes  the  spirit  from  its  tether.  It 
withdraws  the  hands  from  gold-gathering,  that  it 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR.  43 

may  feed  and  feast  the  intellect  with  knowledge. 
It  disinters  the  soul  from  the  rubbish  of  earthly 
cares,  and  plumes  it  for  higher  converse  and  loftier 
studies.  It  favours  hiaction  only  so  far  as  it  shall 
contribute  to  the  advancement  of  intelligence.  Thus 
the  Sabbath  as  clearly  indicates  that  the  working 
man  has  a  mind,  demanding  to  be  exercised  and 
enriched,  as  that  he  has  a  body  sighing  in  its  weari- 
ness for  the  sweet  indulgences  of  rest.  And  how 
beautifully  is  it  adapted  to  the  former,  as  well  as  to 
the  latter  of  these  ends  !  It  supplies  the  great  de- 
sideratum of  the  artisan  and  husbandman's  plod- 
ding existence — leisure  for  profitable  reading  and 
mental  and  moral  culture.  '  Its  benign  influences 
are  eminently  calculated  to  warm  into  life  and 
nurse  into  maturity  many  of  the  finer  attributes 
of  mankind. 


I.   OPPORTUNITIES    FOR   PRIVATE    STUDY   AND    REFLECTION. 

The  advantage  of  the  Sabbath,  as  it  respects  the 
enlargement  and  fructification  of  the  minds  of  the 
lower  classes,  is  strikingly  seen  in  the  opportuni- 
ties it  affords  for  private  study  and  reflection.  The 
dififerent  callings  pursued  by  the  bulk  of  our 
working  men  engross  nearly  all  their  time,  which 
they  are  thus  compelled,  by  their  indigent  circum- 
stances, to  give  in  exchange  for  the  means  of  sub- 
sistence. Where  some  few  parings  of  time  remain 
at  the  disposal  of  the  sons  of  toil,  they  are  gene- 


44  heaven's    antidote    to 

rally  so  scattered,  and  occur  at  seasons  when  the 
corporeal  powers  are  so  prostrated,  and  the  spirits 
so  spent,  as  to  be  comparatively  valueless,  and 
passed  in  negligent  musing.  It  must  be  admitted 
that  such  intervals  of  spiritless  exhaustion  are  not 
calculated  to  predispose  to  intellectual  effort,  or  to 
increase  the  hunger  of  the  mind  ;  but  rather,  where 
no  deliberate  resolve  to  excel  has  been  formed, 
present  strong  inducements  to  waste  them  in  scenes 
of  excitement  and  sensuality.  And,  sad  to  tell,  the 
garish  and  syren-voiced  temptations  of  the  world 
have  prevailed,  to  a  lamentable  extent,  in  alluring 
our  artisans  and  peasantry  from  the  more  solid  pur- 
suits of  learning. 

Now  this  great  defect  of  the  week  is  bountifully 
supplied  by  the  boon  of  the  Sabbath.  It  prescribes 
the  ancient  landmarks  of  labour,  and  incloses  from 
the  wide  waste  of  common  life  an  allotment  sacred 
to  the  culture  and  growth  of  mind.  A  seventh  por- 
tion of  our  time — fifty-two  Sabbaths  in  every  year, 
and  ten  years  of  Sabbaths,  or  3650  days,  in  a  life 
of  threescore  years  and  ten — is  thus  redeemed  from 
secular  pursuits,  and  becomes  the  especial  property 
of  mind.  Oh,  what  intellectual  riches  would  the 
Sabbath  hours  of  an  average  life,  wisely  husbanded, 
enable  us  to  hoard  !  How  might  we  elevate  our 
condition,  dignify  our  characters,  strengthen  our 
virtues,  and  sweeten  the  bitterness  of  our  lives,  by 
a  conscientious  use  of  these  oft-recurring  opportu- 
nities !      But,   alas,   how   little    is    this    princely 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR.  45 

blessing  understood  or  appreciated  by  the  working 
classes  !  How  fearfully  are  its  privileges  abused, 
and  its  purposes  perverted !  Instead  of  works 
healthful  in  their  tone  and  moral  in  their  tendency, 
we  find  the  reading  multitude  delighting  in  low  and 
pernicious  productions.  Instead  of  reading  books 
calculated  to  expand  their  intellect,  and  nourish  in 
them  great,  and  good,  and  god-like  thoughts,  we 
find  among  them  works  irreligious  in  their  charac- 
ter, and  designed  to  pander  to  the  corrupt  passions 
of  human  nature.  In  the  place  of  the  Bible  may 
be  seen  the  romance ;  in  the  place  of  the  volume 
illustrating  the  works  and  ways  of  God,  or  des- 
canthig  on  the  destiny  of  man,  will  be  found  the 
Sunday  newspaper,  consisting  of  the  weekly  ofi"- 
scourings  of  a  nation's  depravity  diligently  raked 
together.  This  literary  garbage  is  the  mental  ali- 
ment served  up  for  Sabbath  entertainment  to  tens 
of  thousands  of  our  working  population.  The 
issue  of  these  messengers  of  impiety  and  immo- 
rality fluctuates  between  50,000  and  100,000 
weekly.  What  streams  of  corruption  a  prostituted 
press  thus  pours  forth  throughout  the  land,  pollut- 
ing the  souls  and  vitiating  the  tastes  of  old  and 
young,  imparting  morbid  cravings  to  the  minds  of 
both  sexes,  and  poisoning  the  nether  springs  of 
morality  and  religion.  Where  is  the  man  who 
has  risen  from  a  low  station  to  eminence  of  rank, 
or  to  commanding  influence  of  mind,  by  feeding 
on  such  trash  as  this  ?     Where  shall  we  find  the 


46  heaven's   antidote   to 

pioneer  of  liberty,  the  wrestler  for  human  rights, 
the  social  regenerator,  the  original  thinker,  the  con- 
queror of  science,  or  the  preacher  of  religion,  who, 
in  surmounting  his  early  disadvantages,  has  not 
jealously  husbanded  the  precious  hours  of  the 
Sabbath  ?  Never,  until  the  working  classes  shall 
change  their  predilections,  root  out  these  literary 
tares  from  their  homes,  and  spend  a  portion  of  the 
Sabbath  in  storing  their  minds  with  wholesome 
knowledge,  will  they  realize  the  full  advantages 
of  the  day,  in  relation  to  their  intellectual  develop- 
ment. 

II.  MEANS   OF  PUBLIC  ORAL    INSTRUCTION. 

Besides  the  facilities  thus  supplied  for  the  private 
acquisition  of  knowledge,  the  Sabbath  also  fur- 
nishes the  means  of  public  oral  instruction.  This 
provision  is  peculiarly  valuable  to  the  mass  of  the 
people,  whose  avocations  and  straitened  circum- 
stances necessarily  exclude  them  from  many  sources 
of  improvement  accessible  to  others.  It  is  pre- 
eminently the  glory  of  the  Sabbath.  In  England, 
Scotland,  and  Wales,  about  35,000  buildings  are 
flung  open  on  this  day  for  the  impartation  of  in- 
struction in  morals  and  religion.  About  40,000 
minds,  many  of  them  gifted  and  powerful,  have 
consecrated  their  talents  to  this  work,  and  distri- 
bute on  this  day  the  fruit  they  have  garnered  up 
by  the  studies  of  the  week.     Everything  in  the 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR.  47 

nature  and  accompaniments  of  the  day  favours  and 
aids  their  efforts.  The  cessation  of  business,  the 
sudden  enfranchisement  of  the  thoughts  from 
worldly  thraldom,  and  the  universal  tranquillity 
that  reigns  around — all  conduce  to  the  success  of 
the  preacher's  ministrations.  But  for  the  institu- 
tion of  these  means,  what  multitudes  of  every  ge- 
neration must  have  passed  to  the  grave  ignorant 
of  their  responsibilities,  their  moral  relations,  and 
their  destiny.  The  Sabbath  abstracts  the  mind 
from  carnal  contacts,  and  keeps  it  from  rooting  it- 
self altogether  in  the  earth.  It  beckons  the  crouch- 
ing spirit  of  the  trader  away  from  week-day  scenes 
to  higher  and  calmer  regions. 

The  instruction  dispensed  on  this  day  is  of  a  cha- 
racter calculated  to  expand,  refine,  and  sublimate 
the  mind.  It  embraces  a  boundless  range  of  topics, 
from  the  simplest  elements  of  knowledge  appre- 
ciable by  the  dullest  intellect,  to  the  most  recondite 
mysteries  that  baffle  the  highest  reason.  It  unseals 
the  fountain-head  of  truth,  in  the  nature  of  God. 
It  unlocks  the  treawsures  of  divine  philosophy,  in 
creation,  in  providence,  and  in  redemption.  It 
impresses  into  its  sacred  service  whatever  is  beau- 
tiful in  nature,  grand  in  science,  and  instructive  in 
art ;  whatever  is  pure  in  ethics,  lovely  in  virtue, 
and  sublime  in  revelation;  whatever  is  monitory  in 
the  past,  perilous  in  the  present,  and  inspiriting  in 
the  future.  It  leads  the  mind  backward  to  the 
ages  before  the  flood,  to  the  paradisaical  state  of 


48  heaven's   antidote    to 

man,  to  the  origin  of  the  universe,  and  thence  to 
the  vast  sohtudes  of  a  past  eternity ;  or  it  urges 
the  shrinking  spirit  forwards,  through  the  valley  of 
the  shadow  of  death — through  the  dark  and  popu- 
lous empire  of  the  grave — into  the  august  presence 
of  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth — to  the  home  of  the 
beatified — to  the  pandemonium  of  the  wicked — 
and  outwards  into  the  immensities  of  the  ever- 
lasting future  !  It  addresses  itself  to  all  the  facul- 
ties and  passions  of  the  soul ;  it  illumines  the  un- 
derstanding, sobers  the  judgment,  thrills  the  heart, 
softens  the  feelings,  energises  the  conscience,  and 
sanctifies  the  deepest  aff"ections  of  our  mysterious 
nature. 

The  public  instruction  of  the  Sabbath  teaches 
man  also  to  understand  himself — a  study  of  su- 
preme importance,  and  of  intense  interest,  and  one 
that  should  take  precedence  of  every  other.  It  is 
ever  reminding  him  of  his  immortality,  and  giving 
premonitions  of  his  latter  end.  Its  lessons  are 
suited  to  the  changeful  circumstances  and  experi- 
ences of  his  chequered  history ;  it  counsels  him  in 
his  embarrassments,  comforts  him  under  his  adver- 
sities, encourages  him  amidst  his  struggles,  and 
strengthens  him  for  the  hour  of  temptation.  It 
habituates  the  mind  to  the  contemplation  of  all 
that  is  wonderful  and  glorious  in  God,  and  all  that 
is  hateful  and  terrible  in  sin ;  all  that  is  divine  in 
compassion,  and  victorious  in  love ;  all  that  is 
beautiful  in  holiness,  and  hideous  in  depravity ; 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR.  49 

all  that  is  hallowing  in  truth,  and  pestiferous  in  er- 
ror ;  all  that  is  alluring  in  heaven,  and  revolting  in 
hell.  It  is  impossible  to  exaggerate  the  blessed 
eifects  resulting  to  the  working  classes  from  thus 
familiarizing  their  minds  with  sound  scriptural 
views  and  holy  Bible  principles.  Such  instruction 
exerts  a  plastic  power  upon  the  character,  and 
tends  to  make  them  more  conscientious  as  ser- 
vants, more  patriotic  as  citizens,  more  peaceful  as 
subjects ;  wiser  as  men,  better  as  parents,  and  hap- 
pier as  Christians. 


III.    SABBATH-SCHOOLS. 

The  Sabbath-schools  of  our  land  afford  another 
exemplification  of  the  advantages  of  the  Sabbath 
in  relation  to  mind.  These  delightful  institutions 
are  mainly  supplied  with  scholars  from  the  families 
of  the  lower  ranks  of  society.  There  are  at  the 
present  time,  according  to  a  recent  calculation,* 
not  fewer  than  two  millions  of  such  children  ga- 
thered every  Sabbath  day  into  these  Christian  nur- 
series ;  a  large  proportion  of  whom  are  employed 
through  the  entire  week,  and  who,  but  for  this  ex- 
pedient of  Christian  benevolence  and  zeal,  would 
grow  up  in  a  state  of  barren  ignorance.  Here, 
then,  we  have  a  machinery,  simple  in  its  construc- 

*  See  Edward  Baine's  Lecture  on  Education  at  Crosby 
HaU,  Feb.  15, 1848. 


7* 


G2 


50  heaven's    antidote    to 

tion,  noiseless  and  unobtrusive  in  its  operations, 
but  nevertheless  wonderful  and  far-reaching  in  its 
results.  The  ten  thousand  little  streamlets  glide 
unseen  along  the  bed  of  society — the  children  and 
their  teachers  come  and  go  from  week  to  week — 
the  busy  world,  meanwhile,  taking  no  note  of 
them;  but  a  mighty  and  beneficent  work  is 
stealthily  going  on  in  secret.  The  fallow  ground 
of  two  millions  of  minds  is  brought  under  the  cul- 
ture of  spiritual  husbandry.*  The  virgin  soil  of 
youthful  hearts  is  turned  up,  and  exposed  to  the 
warm  breath  of  instruction.  The  seeds  of  evil 
germinating  there — those  indigenous  to  their  na- 
ture, those  shed  upon  them  by  a  pernicious  parental 
example,  and  those  borne  to  them  on  the  wings 
of  every  worldly  influence — are  sought  out  and 
carefully  eradicated.  Fresh  sowings  simultane- 
ously take  place,  living  germs  of  goodness  are  im- 
planted, the  stony  heart  is  oft-times  made  ductile 
by  tender  treatment,  the  conscience  is  aroused,  the 
intellect  is  dressed  and  fructified,  an  appetite  for 
nutritious  knowledge  is  created,  and  thus  the  work 
hopefully  goes  on. 

Sometimes  the  green  blade  of  promise  speedily 
appears,  the  budding  intellect  expands  its  leaves, 
and  the  progressive  life  yields  a  rich  crop  of  piety 
and  usefulness.  In  other  cases  the  springing  is 
delayed.    The  golden  grain  seems  to  have  perished 

*  A  glorious  band  of  250,000  teachers  are  employed  in  the 
work  of  Sabbath-school  tuition. — Vide  Baine's  Lecture. 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR.  51 

in  the  ungenial  bed  to  which  it  had  been  consigned. 
But  no.  Rank  passions  and  hixuriant  vices  have 
only  checked  the  precious  seed,  and  retarded  its 
growtli.  The  hving  rudiments  can  never  rot :  they 
he  deeply  earthed  in  the  heart,  entangled,  perhaps, 
with  the  fibres  of  sins  that  root  themselves  there, 
awaiting  a  predestined  day — an  hour — a  place — 
when  and  where  they  shall  suddenly  burst,  with 
starthng  energy,  into  sight.  It  may  be  on  the  deso- 
late rock,  when  the  wreck  is  going  down ;  it  may 
be  in  the  heart  of  a  deep  wilderness,  or  in  the 
worse  solitude  of  a  crowded  city,  when  no  friendly 
face  beams  upon  them ;  it  may  be  in  the  grave- 
yard, in  the  day  of  desolation ;  it  may  be  in  the 
lonely  chamber,  in  the  dead  of  night ;  it  may  be  in 
the  dungeon,  when  crime  is  fully  ripe ;  or  it  may 
be  on  the  death-bed,  when  the  judgment  hour 
draws  near  !  For  on  all  tliese  occasions,  and  in  all 
these  places,  have  the  imperishable  reminiscences 
of  Sabbath-school  instructions  been  suddenly  re- 
vived, sometimes  to  communicate  a  glimmering 
hope  of  the  Divine  mercy,  at  others,  to  add  fuel  to 
the  burnings  of  despair. 

What  rich  fruitage  has  this  blessed  system  already 
yielded  !  The  Sabbath-school  is  a  nursery  of  na- 
tional righteousness.  It  has  supplied  men  of  in- 
tegrity for  responsible  stations  in  society.  It  has, 
from  year  to  year,  replenished  the  church  of  God 
with  new  members.  It  has  provided  the  ministry 
of  our  land  with  not  a  few  of  its  most  illustrious 


52  heaven's    antidote    to 

ornaments,  and  has  given  the  first  impulses  of  se- 
raphic zeal  to  many  of  the  most  distinguished  mis- 
sionaries of  modern  times.  And  who  can  compute 
the  number  of  dormant  minds  it  has  quickened  in- 
to activity — the  fine  intelligences  it  has  opened  and 
expanded,  the  memories  it  has  stored  with  pre- 
cious truths,  the  trailing  virtues  it  has  supported 
and  invigorated,  and  the  thriving  vices  it  has  with- 
ered, uprooted,  and  destroyed ! 

It  is,  moreover,  the  peculiar  excellence  of  this 
educational  system,  that  it  not  only  developes  in- 
tellect, but  it  developes  it  in  a  right  manner.  It 
does  this,  not  by  artificial  stimulants,  forcing  a  pre- 
cocious and  sickly  growth,  but  by  simply  aiding 
the  healthy  action  of  nature.  For  it  is  not  the  ab- 
stract acuteness  and  capacity  of  any  mind,  but  the 
proper  application  of  its  powers,  that  should  be  a 
matter  of  solicitude.  A  splendid  intellect  prosti- 
tuted to  the  advocacy  of  error  is  a  fearful  curse, 
whilst  the  humblest  talents,  plighted  to  truth,  and 
wisely  directed,  may  prove  an  enduring  blessing. 

Had  the  Sabbath  no  other  benefit  of  which  to 
boast,  than  that  of  educating  the  incipient  mind  of 
the  children  of  the  working  classes,  it  would  be  en- 
titled to  our  warmest  gratitude  and  commendation. 
Sabbath-school  instruction  is  one  of  the  most  hope- 
ful and  influential  of  all  labours,  and  in  the  present 
perilous  times  is  emphatically  required !  If  the 
wide  under-growth  of  youthful  mind  be  not  care- 
fully watched,  and  directed,  in  its  earlier  stages  of 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR.  53 

development,  small  success  will  attend  any  subse- 
quent efforts  to  improve  it,  when  it  has  attained  a 
dwarfed,  misshapen,  and  stubborn  maturity.  If 
good  impulses  are  not  given  to  the  rising  intelli- 
gence of  the  labouring  population  in  childhood, 
there  is  painful  reason  to  fear  that,  in  very  many 
cases,  the  impressing  season  is  irrevocably  lost. 
Other  teachers  are  in  the  field.  Other  influences 
are  busy  all  around.  Life  opens  up  its  beguiling 
scenes  to  the  inexperienced  eye.  Harlotry  lavishes 
its  blandishments  and  weaves  its  snares.  Scepti- 
cism insinuates  its  doubts.  Profanity  next  ap- 
proaches, flashing  its  witty  jests  and  blasphemies. 
Enticements  to  dissoluteness  and  sensuality  ply  the 
unguarded  victim  on  every  side,  till  at  length  the 
time  not  spent  in  the  duties  of  his  calling  is  wasted 
in  awful  wickedness.  Thus  the  fallen  one  becomes 
a  wretched  outcast  from  all  good  men.  And  thus 
minds  that,  with  timely  training,  might  have  strug- 
gled into  light  and  usefulness,  become  blasted  by 
early  neglect,  and  the  fierce  onset  of  earthly  temp- 
tations. 

But  if  youth  will  push  its  way  to  the  brink  of 
destruction,  let  us,  nevertheless,  fence  the  path  with 
all  possible  resistances  and  obstructions.  Since  the 
road  to  ruin  is  so  easy  and  congenial  to  the  heart 
of  man,  let  us  lodge  in  his  mind  every  principle 
that  is  calculated  to  retard  his  progress  and  damp 
his  guilty  ardour.  This  object  is  blessedly  achieved 
by  the  Sabbath-schools  of  our  country. 


54  heaven's    antidote    to 

What  a  fund  of  blessing  is  thus  hoarded  up  in 
the  Sabbath  !  Its  uses  in  relation  to  mind  are  not 
at  present  fully  understood,  for  its  rich  available 
sources  have  never  yet  been  half  explored.  The 
present  Sabbath-school  system,  for  instance,  is  but 
the  embryo  of  a  more  perfect  scheme  for  intellectual 
elevation  hereafter  to  be  disclosed. 


rV.    THE   DOMESTIC   ADVANTAGES   OF   THE   SABBATH. 

Besides  numerous  incidental  and  collateral  be- 
nefits resulting  from  the  advent  of  the  Sabbath,  in 
relation  to  the  homes  of  the  working  classes,  there 
are  three  great  ends  directly  promoted  by  it  that 
are  worthy  of  special  regard :  it  favours  the  culti- 
vation of  natural  affection,  it  secures  family  fellow- 
ship, and  it  generates  and  fosters  domestic  piety. 


I.   UNDER  THE   AUSPICES   OF    THE    SABBATH  NATURAL  AFFEC- 
TION   IS    NURTURED    AND    INCREASED. 

The  institution  of  families  does  not  owe  its  origin 
to  human  ingenuity.  God  himself  has  grouped  the 
human  race  in  these  miniature  associations,  and, 
by  the  refined  instincts  which  he  has  implanted  in 
their  bosom,  has,  in  all  ages,  and  amidst  all  the 
confused  comminglings  of  mankind,  preserved  this 
unique  institution  from  destruction.     The  homes 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR.  55 

of  men  are  the  centres  of  nearly  all  the  light  and 
warmth  that  cheer  the  social  world ;  the  arks  that 
shelter  mankind  from  the  raging  tumults  and 
storms  of  life ;  the  cells  where  the  loving  and  the 
loved  hoard  the  sweet  fruits  of  their  reciprocal 
affection;  the  well-springs  that  supply  mankind 
with  the  purest  draughts  of  earthly  happiness. 
Attachment  to  home  is  always  strongest  in  the 
hearts  of  the  virtuous  and  the  good,  whilst  it  will 
be  found,  that  those  who  have  abandoned  them- 
selves to  sensualism  and  vice,  have  first  learned  to 
loathe  the  quiet  joys,  the  chaste  delights,  and  the 
gentle  affections  of  the  family  circle. 

All  our  natural  affections  are  quickened  by  fre- 
quent and  kindly  domestic  communion.  The  offices 
of  love,  the  acts  of  devotedness,  and  the  proofs  of 
tenderness,  constantly  repeated  among  relatives 
mingling  in  the  same  dwelling,  cannot  but  power- 
fully affect  their  emotional  nature,  and  continue  to 
weave,  day  by  day,  a  chain  of  love  around  their 
hearts.  The  strength  of  this  chain  will  depend,  in 
a  great  measure,  upon  the  frequency  or  infrequency 
of  the  intercourse  subsisting  between  the  respective 
members  of  the  household.  It  is  proverbial  that 
absence  tends  to  the  estrangement  of  the  heart, 
even  from  those  claiming  the  closest  kinship  with 
us.  Where  our  seasons  of  communion,  therefore, 
only  occur  at  lengthened  intervals,  or  where  they 
are  hurried  and  embarrassed  by  the  intrusion  of 
care  and  anxiety,  the  bonds  finking  together  the 


56  heaven's    antidote    to 

members  of  the  family  must  of  necessity  be  there- 
by relaxed  and  weakened. 

These  observations  bring  at  once  to  our  view 
the  position  of  the  working  classes,  in  their  re- 
spective families,  as  it  respects  the  cultivation  of 
those  natural  affections  from  which  so  large  a  share 
of  their  earthly  enjoyments  spring.  During  the 
days  of  labour  the  artisan  or  the  husbandman  is, 
to  a  great  extent,  an  involuntary  absentee  from  his 
home.  He  rises  early  in  the  morning,  before  the 
remainder  of  the  family  are  up,  and  goes  forth, 
like  the  sun,  to  perform  his  daily  circuit  of  duty. 
If  the  scene  of  his  operations  happens  to  be  near, 
he  shows  himself  punctually  at  the  hours  of  re- 
freshment, partakes  hastily  of  the  family  meals, 
and  again  disappears;  but  if,  as  is  frequently  the 
case,  his  sphere  of  labour  be  remote,  then  he  re- 
turns no  more  to  his  jfire-side  till  the  evening  is  far 
spent,  and  when  the  children,  or  the  sick  wife  per- 
haps, have  retired  to  rest,  whilst  in  very  many  in- 
stances the  great  distance  of  his  employment  will 
detain  him  from  the  bosom  of  his  family  till  the 
broad  shadows  of  the  closing  week  are  stretched 
across  the  land.  This  is  the  perpetual  lot  of  mil- 
lions of  our  toiling  tribes.  What  opportunities, 
then,  have  they,  in  these  swift  visits  to  the  do- 
mestic hearth,  or  in  the  drowsiness  of  evening  ex- 
haustion, to  breathe  sympathy  or  minister  comfort 
to  an  ailing  and  suffering  wife  ?  What  opportuni- 
ties to  win,  by  parental  endearments,  a  lodgment 


'The  zone  of  Charity  encompasses  the  household." — Eeaven^s  antidote,  Page  57. 


THE     CURSE     OP     LABOUR.  57 

in  the  hearts  of  their  offspring  ?  What  leisure  to 
sit  under  the  shadow  of  the  gourd  their  own  haiids 
have  planted,  and  eat  of  its  delicious  fruits  ?  If 
some  provision  had  not  been  made  to  obviate  the 
effects  of  this  domestic  deprivation,  the  families  of 
the  working  classes  generally  would  present  a 
painful  spectacle  of  mutual  indifference  and  disaf- 
fection between  husbands  and  wives,  and  of  alien- 
ation between  fathers  and  children ;  for  when  the 
natural  affections,  which  mainly  give  birth  to  all 
the  delights  of  home,  are  suffered  to  languish 
through  neglect,  there  are  no  evils  or  distractions 
to  which  such  households  may  not  become  a  prey. 
But  the  same  benevolent  Being  who  has,  by  cer- 
tain constraining  laws  interwoven  with  our  nature, 
clustered  mankind  in  these  little  communities,  has 
also,  even  in  the  most  unpropitious  circumstances, 
afforded  facilities  for  promoting  those  refined  in- 
stincts on  the  strength  of  which  the  happiness  of 
the  family  institution  chiefly  depends.  God  has 
given  to  the  sons  of  labour  the  Sabbath  for  a  sa- 
cred possession.  On  this  day  the  separations  of 
the  week  do  not  take  place ;  the  dissociated  are 
brought  together  into  fellowship,  the  brother  ca- 
resses the  sister,  the  father  lavishes  his  fondness 
upon  the  children,  the  husband  tenderly  greets  the 
wife,  and  the  zone  of  charity  encompasses  the 
household.  The  pulses  of  affection  are  quickened 
in  every  soul ;  each  beholds  his  or  her  happiness 
imaged  in  the  beaming  countenances  of  all  beside, 
_  _ 


58  heaven's   antidote   to 

and  thus  love  ripens  apace  beneath  the  clear  sun- 
shine of  the  heart. 

If  the  Sabbath  fails  to  bring  household  harmony 
and  interchanges  of  affection,  as  it  does  in  too 
many  cases,  we  must  attribute  it,  not  to  any  defec- 
tiveness in  the  provisions  of  the  day,  but  to  the 
prevalence  of  discordant  passions  in  the  bosoms  of 
the  members  of  the  family.  Their  heart-strings 
are  out  of  tune,  consequently  the  music  of  domestic 
life  is  marred.  The  father  is  austere  and  despotic, 
it  may  be,  or  the  mother  is  querulous  and  ill-tem- 
pered ;  in  either  case  the  green  affections  of  child- 
hood are  blighted  as  soon  as  they  appear.  The 
husband  is  perhaps  enslaved  by  intemperance,  and 
robs  his  family  to  satiate  his  lusts ;  the  down-trod- 
den wife  either  upbraids  him,  or  sullenly  submits 
to  her  fate,  and  the  shghted  children  learn  to  dread 
and  recoil  from  their  degraded  sire.  To  such  the 
Sabbath  re-union  brings  no  divine  concord,  no  holy 
heart-communion,  and  thus  ruthlessly  does  sin  often- 
times blur  the  bright  beauty  of  Sabbath  homes, 
and  neutralize  the  kind  intents  of  Him  who  is  alike 
the  founder  of  families  and  of  Sabbath  days. 


II.   THE   SABBATH   SECURES   TO   THE  WORKING   CLASSES   OPPOR- 
TUNITIES  FOR  DOMESTIC    FELLOWSHIP. 

This  is  but  an  amplification  of  the  idea  upon 
which  we  have  already  dilated.     During  the  week 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR.  59 

by  far  the  largest  portion  of  their  time  is  consumed 
amidst  their  coadjutors  in  toil,  many  of  whom  are 
comparative  strangers  to  them,  others  are  unwor- 
thy of  their  confidence  and  friendship,  whilst  the 
fellowship  of  not  a  few  is  decidedly  distasteful  and 
distressing.  It  imparts  a  double  joy,  therefore,  to 
the  intelligent  and  virtuous  man,  to  be  able  to  es- 
cape for  a  season  from  such  contacts,  and  to  find  a 
temporary  retreat  in  the  bosom  of  a  cheerful  family. 
Here  he  can  breathe  freely,  in  an  atmosphere  un- 
tainted by  the  impurities  that  have  surrounded  him 
throughout  the  week.  Here  he  can  solace  his  soul 
with  the  sweet  converse  of  those  he  loves.  On 
this  day  he  has  time  to  imprint,  line  by  line,  linea- 
ment by  lineament,  an  indelible  image  of  himself 
on  the  hearts  of  his  sons  and  daughters.  On  this 
day  he  has  leisure  to  extract  the  honey  of  domestic 
happiness  from  the  beauteous  flowers  bursting  and 
blooming  around  him  in  the  garden  of  his  home. 
On  this  day  he  has  opportunity  to  cultivate  the  af- 
fections of  his  children,  by  directing  them  towards 
worthy  objects ;  to  admonish  them  of  their  faults 
and  follies,  to  point  out  the  temptations  to  which 
they  are  exposed,  to  forewarn  them,  with  a  parent's 
earnestness,  of  the  perils  that  beset  their  steps,  to 
impregnate  their  minds  with  sound  principles,  to 
instil  virtuous  sentiments,  to  extirpate  vindictive 
dispositions,  to  encourage  the  exercise  of  the  intel- 
lect, and  strive  to  exalt  the  moral  sense,  in  short, 
to  weed  out  of  their  natures  whatever  would  prove 


60  heaven's    antidote    to 

detrimental  to  their  happiness  or  usefulness,  and  at 
the  same  time  to  foster  in  them  whatever  might 
tend  to  improve  their  characters,  or  give  stability 
to  their  future  lives. 

If  this  parental  mission,  to  which  the  Sabbath 
peculiarly  calls  the  heads  of  households,  were  but 
conscientiously  fulfilled,  what  myriads  of  youth 
might  be  snatched  from  infamy,  and  what  numbers 
of  sorrowful  parents,  whose  heads  are  prematurely 
bending  to  the  grave,  might  spend  a  happy  and 
extended  old  age  beneath  the  family  vine  they  had 
planted  in  their  days  of  strength.  But,  in  the 
most  critical  periods  of  their  children's  history, 
their  minds  and  morals  were  neglected — left  ex- 
posed to  the  sower  of  every  sort  of  evil — and  now, 
alas !  they  are  harvesting  a  terrible  retribution  in 
the  crimes  and  sufferings  of  their  scattered  off- 
spring ! 

'  Contrasted  with  this  dark  picture,  how  blessed  is 
the  retrospect  of  a  well-spent  Sabbath  in  the  fa- 
mily !  What  a  sweet  preparative  for  the  struggles 
of  the  coming  week !  Where  is  the  father  who 
would  not  go  forth  on  the  Monday  morning  with 
a  heart  brimful  with  rapture  to  toil  anew  for  his 
wife  and  children?  And  how  often,  as  the  hot 
dews  of  labour  roll  from  his  forehead,  and  his 
weary  arms  drop  pithless  by  his  side,  will  the 
swift  thoughts  of  home  rush  over  him,  reviving 
him  like  new  wine,  and  quickening  all  his  flagging 
energies  ?     The  exertions  of  such  a  man,  acting 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR.  61 

under  such  abiding  impulses,  cannot  be  otherwise 
than  fruitful ;  and  how  precious  should  such  fruits 
be  esteemed,  when  cast  into  the  family  lap  for  the 
impartial  use  of  all ! 

It  is  equally  cheering  to  the  matronly  wife  to  be 
privileged,  for  one  day  in  seven,  to  entertain  her 
lord  in  the  peaceful  realms  wherein  she  lives  and 
reigns.  Exiled  to  a  great  extent  from  her  presence 
in  the  week,  she  ardently  longs  for  the  day  when 
her  husband  shall  fill  the  vacant  chair  beside  the 
hearth,  irradiate  the  cottage  with  his  smiles,  and 
delight  her  ear  with  that  voice  whose  tones  of  ten- 
derness whispered  away  her  heart  in  the  romantic 
days  of  her  maidenhood. 

But,  if  the  communion  of  a  well-ordered  home 
be  thus  refreshing  to  parents,  it  is  difficult  to  over- 
rate the  hallowing  influence  it  exerts  upon  the 
minds  of  the  rising  members  of  the  family.  It 
helps  to  consolidate  the  virtuous  formations  of  their 
characters.  It  preserves  the  guileless  and  un- 
suspecting from  the  fatal  seductions  that  bestrew 
the  highways  of  the  world.  It  restrains  those  pru- 
rient desires  that  so  often  burn  in  the  bosoms  of  the 
young,  to  rush  into  the  world  and  into  the  blight- 
ing excitement  that  rages  out  of  doors,  and  teaches 
them  betimes  that  real  happiness  may  be  imbibed 
at  the  quiet  cistern  of  domestic  enjoyments,  but 
never  from  the  turbid  currents  of  a  dissipated  life. 

And  then,  this  influence  is  as  lasting  as  it  is  bene- 
ficial.    The  recollections  of  a  happy  home  will 

8  *  lis 


62  heaven's    antidote    to 

cling  to  the  young  adventurer  when  his  turn  conies 
to  plunge  into  the  wild  waters  of  a  turbulent  world. 
In  the  case  of  him  who  is  under  the  sway  of  vir- 
tuous principles,  these  sacred  remembrances  will 
never  lose  their  power ;  whilst  in  the  case  of  him 
who  has  swerved  from  the  path  of  rectitude,  the 
Sabbath  counsels  of  a  serious  father,  and  the  fer- 
vent pleadings  of  a  pious  mother,  will  vibrate  upon 
his  ear  amid  the  guilty  excesses  of  a  profligate  ca- 
reer. The  earliest  impressions  of  home  are  gene- 
rally the  deepest,  and  the  last  to  be  effaced ; 
and  where  these  are  of  a  pleasing  and  salutary 
character,  they  will  often  act  like  an  anchor,  in 
steadying  the  heart  of  the  young  sinner,  and  pre- 
venting him  from  driving  headlong  on  the  rocks  of 
destruction !  But  there  is  yet  another  aspect  in 
which  the  domestic  advantages  of  the  Sabbath  may 
be  viewed. 


III.   THE   SABBATH   AFFORDS   FACILITIES    FOR  THE   PROMOTION 
AND    EXERCISE    OF    FAMILY   PIETY. 

The  ordinary  work-days  of  most  of  our  opera- 
tives are  necessarily  so  engrossed  by  their  out-door 
occupations,  and  the  time  consumed  in  going  to  and 
fro,  that,  whatever  their  incUnations  may  be,  they 
seldom  have  opportunity  to  indulge  in  the  oflices 
of  family  devotion.  Easiness,  as  now  conducted, 
is  so  thoroughly  worldly  in  its  spirit  and  require- 
ments, and  so  greedy  of  every  moment  it  can  wrest 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR.  63 

from  its  slaves,  that  no  space  is  left,  between  the 
rising  and  the  setting  sun,  for  the  pious  labourer  to 
assemble  his  household  around  the  domestic  altar. 
His  meal-times'barely  suffice  to  enable  him  to  reach 
his  home,  to  appease  the  appetites  of  nature,  and 
to  retrace  his  steps  again.  Thus  the  devout  work- 
man, however  his  soul  may  pant  for  a  brief  daily 
season  which  he  may  consecrate  to  the  social  exer- 
cises of  rehgion,  finds  himself  irresistibly  borne  on- 
wards by  the  tide  of  human  selfishness,  and  com- 
pelled to  conform  to  many  of  the  customs  and  re- 
strictions imposed  by  the  ungodly. 

But  here  again,  as  elsewhere,  the  mercy  of 
Heaven  interposes  on  behalf  of  its  vexed  children. 
Every  seventh  day  that  breaks  upon  the  groaning 
world  publishes  liberty  to  these  lamenting  captives. 
The  rich  banquet  which  this  day  spreads,  atones, 
in  some  measure,  for  the  spiritual  scarcity  of  the 
week.  On  the  Sabbath  the  perusal  of  the  Scrip- 
tures may  be  resumed,  the  re-united  household,  free 
from  the  inquietudes  and  claims  of  secular  duties, 
may  meet  for  praise  and  prayer  around  the  throne 
of  grace ;  the  well-matched  pair  will  take  sweet 
counsel  together,  and  of  the  Lord ;  the  inquisitive 
children,  gladdened  at  their  father's  sojourn  among 
them,  wiU  drink  from  his  lips  the  words  of  sacred 
instruction  ;  friends  and  kindred,  dropping  in,  will 
fraternise  with  the  family  in  their  communings  with 
each  other  and  with  heaven,  and  go  away  bearing 
a  rich  blessing  in  their  souls ;  songs  of  rejoicing 


64  heaven's   antidote   to 

and  canticles  of  praise  will  resound  through  the 
templed  cottage,  whilst  the  foretastes  of  heavenly 
bliss  will  often  ravish  the  hearts,  and  the  foresha- 
dowings  of  a  coming  glory  will  gleam  upon  the 
countenances,  of  its  happy  inmates.  Nor  will  the 
public  ordinances  of  divine  worship  interrupt  this 
holy  fellowship.  An  intelhgent  and  earnest  piety 
in  the  rulers  of  the  family  will  generally  so  con- 
trive, as  that  most,  if  not  all,  of  its  members  may 
repair  in  company  to  the  house  of  God,  and  there 
celebrate  divine  mercy  with  the  great  congregation 
of  Israel. 

Such  are  some  of  the  inestimable  privileges 
which  the  Sabbath  institution  guaranties  to  the 
families  of  the  working  classes.  It  requires,  there- 
fore, but  a  glance  to  perceive  the  deranged  and 
godless  state  to  which  the  repeal  of  the  Sabbath 
law  would  reduce  them.  The  natural  affections 
of  the  lower  orders  would  thereby  be  blunted,  and 
a  diminished  interest  in  each  other's  well-being 
would  ensue,  in  consequence  of  the  infrequency 
and  hastiness  of  their  family  intercourse.  The  se- 
veral members  of  the  same  household  would  grow 
up  in  strange  and  freezing  apathy  towards  each 
other.  The  children  would  seldom  see  the  father, 
except  for  a  few  hurried  minutes,  and  then  it  would 
be  when  he  is  chafing  beneath  the  labour-yoke, 
and  when  his  eye  is  continually  roving  to  the  ad- 
monitory hands  of  his  watch — a  time  not  at  all 
calculated  to  encourage  the  reciprocities  of  palter- 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR.  65 

nal  and  filial  love.  The  father,  too,  on  his  part, 
never  having  a  few  consecutive  hours  of  leisure,  to 
enable  him  to  explore  the  mine  of  household  trea- 
sure which  he  nominally  possesses,  would  soon 
feel  the  chain  of  labour  drag  as  heavily  as  his 
dead  heart  within  him,  while  the  brawny  arm  of 
energy,  and  the  soul  of  enterprise,  would  flag,  be- 
cause the  inspirations  of  love  were  wanting.  For, 
where  ambition,  or  covetousness,  or  emulation  sti- 
mulates one  to  indefatigable  effort,  love  impels 
thousands  on  in  the  fierce  races  of  human  industry. 
Think  of  this  state  of  things  everywhere  existing 
among  the  working  classes — think  of  homes  di- 
vested of  their  attractions — think  of  the  bonds  of 
sympathy  between  the  closest  kindred  universally 
relaxed — think  of  the  strong  affinities  of  nature 
which,  for  lack  of  adequate  domestic  fellowship, 
are  dying  out  of  human  hearts — think  of  hard  la- 
bour, thus  deprived  of  its  elastic  spring,  going  on 
with  sluggishness  and  languor,  for  who  would  toil, 
and  sweat,  and-"  grind  the  bones  out  of  his  arms," 
without  a  powerful  motive  ? — and  what  motive  is 
sufficiently  strong  to  urge  millions  of  our  yokefel- 
lows to  menial  offices  all  their  lives,  save  necessity 
to  provide  for  themselves,  and  love  towards  those 
dear  ones  who  have  a  natural  claim  upon  their  ser- 
vices ? — think  of  the  consequences  that  would  en- 
sue from  the  withdrawal  of  this  mainstay  of  the 
industrial  habits  of  the  people,  and  infer  therefrom 
the  inexpressible  advantages  accruing  to  innumer- 


66  heaven's    antidote    to 

able  family  groups,  and  to  society  at  large,  from 
the  maintenance  of  the  Sabbath  from  all  secular 
and  carnal  innovations. 

The  extinction  of  the  Sabbath,  moreover,  as  a 
day  designed  to  be  especially  devoted  to  religious 
pursuits,  must  lead  to  the  extinction  of  domestic 
piety  ;  and  wheresoever  piety  shall  cease  to  have  a 
voice  and  an  altar  in  the  house,  it  will  simultane- 
ously cease  to  have  an  embodiment  in  the  church, 
and  an  existence  in  the  world.  Were  religion, 
with  its  angel-retinue  of  graces,  to  be  thus  banished 
from  our  earth,  godlessness  and  impiety,  with  their 
demon-throng  of  attendant  evils — oppression,  ex- 
tortion, discord,  hatred,  revenge,  blood-thirstiness, 
and  every  species  of  sensuality  that  can  debase  the 
human  form — would  reign  and  riot  unchecked 
among  mankind  !  Between  us  and  a  catastrophe 
so  dire  stands  the  Sabbath  day,  whose  seemingly 
frail  barriers  were  originally  built,  and  whose  dila- 
pidations from  age  to  age  have  been  repaired,  by 
the  hands  of  a  divine  artificer. 


V.     THE   MORAL   ADVANTAGES   OF    THE    SABBATH. 

This  is  one  of  the  most  solemn  phases  of  the 
subject.  It  may  be  viewed  very  differently  by 
different  minds.  The  dominant  mood  of  the  ru- 
minator  is  likely  to  darken  or  illumine  the  steps  by 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR.  67 

which  he  reaches  his  conclusion.  We  beUeve  that 
the  beneficial  influence  of  the  Sabbath  on  the  in- 
terests of  moraUty  can  be  triumphantly  established. 
In  the  right  dedication  of  the  day  is  locked  up  all 
its  hoarded  blessedness.  Used  in  accordance  with 
its  institutional  laws,  it  is  birthful  of  unmingled 
good.  Desecrated  to  dissipation,  wasted  in  the 
chase  of  vanity,  or  pawned  for  unblessed  gains,  it 
entails  a  terrible  and  an  accumulating  curse. 


I.  THE  SABBATH  FAVOURS  MORALITY,  INASMUCH  AS  IT  IN- 
CULCATES THE  PRACTICE  OF  MORAL  DUTIES,  AND  GIVES 
FREE  SCOPE  TO  THE  EXPRESSION  OF  THE  MORAL  VIRTUES. 

In  the  fulfilment  of  these  functions  it  wages  a 
vigorous  Avar  against  the  reigning  spirit  of  the 
work-day  world.  The  mandates  of  Christianity, 
thundered  across  the  Sabbath  stillness,  are  calcu- 
lated to  arrest  the  demoralizing  mania  of  worldly 
grasping,  and  bring  men  to  a  reflective  pause. 
The  prescriptions  of  the  gospel,  which  are  being 
constantly  republished  under  the  sanctions  of  the 
Sabbath,  are  utterly  at  variance  with  the  selfish 
maxims  and  greedy  impulses  of  a  trading  commu- 
nity. Whilst,  on  work-days,  the  competitions  of 
industry  and  the  contentions  of  trade  are  continually 
fomenting  jealousies  and  animosities  between  man- 
kind, the  Sabbath  seeks,  by  its  lessons  of  forgive- 
ness, to  reconcile  and  fraternise  the  alienated. 
Whilst,  throughout  the  week,  prosperous  extor- 


68  heaven's    antidote    to 

tioners  overreach  their  neighbours,  and  wring  the 
materials  of  wealth  out  of  the  stinted  poor,  on  the 
Sabbath  they  are  confronted  by  some  stern  mes- 
senger from  the  avenger  of  oppression,  and  into 
their  tingling  ears  is  pealed  the  royal  law  of  love, 
"  Do  unto  others  as  you  would  that  others  should 
do  unto  you."  Amidst  the  weekly  drudgeries  or 
hirelingship,  the  factitious  disparities  of  station, 
and  the  inequalities  of  lot,  stand  out  in  dismaying 
prominence,  causing  heart-burnings  among  the 
more  dependent  classes :  in  the  eye  of  the  Sabbath 
all  men  are  regarded  as  equal — the  wide  chasms 
that  yawn  between  the  different  sections  of  society 
are  closed,  and  class  enmities  and  feuds  are  abated.) 
The  frequent  hardships  and  indignities  inflicted 
upon  the  labouring  poor  breed  bitterness  in  their 
souls,  and  prompt  them  to  reprisals :  the  Sabbath 
not  only  manumits  them  from  these  galling  imposi- 
tions, but  teaches  them  to  love,  to  forgive,  and  to 
do  good  unto  those  who  despitefuUy  use  them.  In 
the  desperate  struggles  which  the  week  witnesses 
for  earthly  distinction  and  aggrandizement,  the 
rights  of  others  are  frequently  trampled  on  with 
reckless  temerity  ;  competing  rivals  are  mercilessly 
over-ridden,  and  thus  an  awful  disregard  of  the 
charities  of  life  is  propagated  :  the  Sabbath  lifts  up 
its  standard  against  this  prevalent  spirit  of  selfish- 
ness, reproves  all  such  encroachments  on  the  pri- 
mary rights  of  man,  and  pleads  the  cause  of  the 
injured  and  distressed.     All  the  commercings  of 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR.  69 

week-day  life  nourish  the  selfisrn  of  man,  whilst 
the  Sabbath,  on  the  contrary,  appeals  to,  and  seeks 
to  bring  forth,  the  benevolence  of  his  nature.  The 
whole  gist  of  secular  occupations  is  to  tempt  man 
to  sacrifice  others,  as  far  as  is  needful,  for  the  at- 
tainment of  his  own  private  ends,  whilst  the  scope 
of  the  Sabbath  is  to  prevail  upon  him  to  sacrifice 
himself  for  the  benefit  of  his  fellows,  whether  by 
ministering  with  his  gold  to  their  physical  necessi- 
ties, whether  by  extending  a  helping  hand  to  the 
unfortunate  and  sinking,  whether  by  exploring  the 
outlying  settlements  of  social  darkness  and  degra- 
dation, and  afterwards  calling  the  attention  of  the 
world  to  their  humiliating  revelations,  whether  by 
consecrating  his  gifts  to  the  general  advancement 
of  his  species,  whether  by  going  meekly  from 
hovel  to  hovel,  and  from  cellar  to  garret,  breaking 
the  bread  of  truth,  and  handing  round  the  cup  of 
comfort  to  the  ignorant  and  the  unhappy,  or 
whether,  if  needs  be,  by  pouring  out  his  blood  and 
life,  a  libation  on  the  altar  of  human  happiness. 
For,  while  dissuading  from  gainful  frauds  and 
worldly  greediness,  as  ignoble  in  themselves,  and 
trenching  on  the  dues  of  others,  the  Sabbath  also 
summons  the  sons  of  men  to  all  these  moral  duties 
and  disinterested  services. 

The  day  that  inculcates  these  obligations  likewise 
teems  with  opportunities  for  their  discharge.  The 
Sabbath  is  the  fulcrum  on  which  the  lever  of  the 
Gospel  mainly  rests.     It  fosters  every  noble  enter- 


9 


70  heaven's    antidote    to 

prise,  and  promotes  all  that  is  truly  good,  and  great, 
and  hopeful  in  man.  It  is  earthly  life  filtered  of 
its  dregs.  It  is  the  cream  of  time.  It  closes  the 
ordinary  outlets  of  cupidity,  and  directs  the  activity 
of  men  into  a  thousand  holier  channels.  It  gives 
abundant  time  for  well-doing.  It  works  out,  too, 
a  generous  willinghood  of  heart.  It  breaks  down 
alike  the  opposing  barriers  of  business  and  the 
more  stubborn  aversions  of  mind.  It  empties  the 
warrens  of  the  world,  and  swarms  the  vineyards 
of  the  church.  It  clears  the  shops,  the  mines,  and 
the  factories  of  the  land,  and,  with  their  inmates, 
peoples  human  homes.  It  flings  wide  open  the 
doors  of  opportunity  to  all,  and  thus  prepares  a 
harvest  for  the  Christian  reaper's  sickle.  It  gathers 
the  younger  children  from  the  school,  or  from  the 
mill,  the  grown  sisters  from  the  seamstress's,  the 
elder  brothers  from  the  desk,  or  from  the  field,  the 
father  from  the  workshop,  the  barn,  or  the  mine, 
and  the  mother  from  her  cottage  drudgeries,  and 
groups  them  all  around  the  cheerful  fireside. 

All  trading,  world-made  distinctions  are  now  ef- 
faced. Men  appear  no  longer  as  miners,  as  weav- 
ers, as  masons,  as  ploughmen,  or  as  builders.  The 
Sabbath  recognises  them  alone  as  men — as  respon- 
sible beings — moral  agents — candidates  for  immor- 
tality— the  subjects  of  a  retributive  government — 
and  the  objects  of  impartial,  divine  benignity  and 
grace.  How  solemn  are  the  aspects  of  human  na- 
ture that   the   Sabbath   thus   discloses !     What  a 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR.  71 

spectacle  of  hidden  majesty  it  enshrouds  !  How 
silently  it  tears  away  all  that  is  merely  adventitious 
in  man,  and  bares  to  view  a  world  of  spirits,  awing 
the  eye  that  surveys  them  in  all  their  grandeur  and 
vast  interests !  A  world  of  spirits !  shrined  in 
flesh  !  guested  in  tabernacles  of  dust !  self-sunken 
in  abysses  of  depravity  !  borne  down  by  heavy 
tasks  of  toil !  all  the  radiant  beamings  of  their 
high  destiny  shut  in,  or  else  extinguished  !  This 
infinite  region  of  spiritual  existence  would  have 
remained  well  nigh  unknown  but  for  the  Sabbath, 
for  when  would  despotic  labour  have  voluntarily 
suspended  its  mean  pursuits  to  explore  its  myste- 
ries ?  When  would  avarice  or  ambition,  for  ever 
on  the  drive,  have  found  leisure  to  study  its  sublime 
secrets  ?  To  the  mass  of  men,  rolled  onward  on 
the  restless  surges  of  a  Sabbathless  life,  this  illim- 
itable world  of  spiritualism  must  have  continued 
unknown,  save  when  some  stray  glimmerings  of 
its  glories  might  occasionally  struggle  through  an 
opening  in  the  gloom  wherewith  their  nature  and 
destiny  were  enwrapped.  Too  contented  as  men 
are  to  linger  in  the  outer  courts  of  the  temple  of 
the  universe,  were  it  not  for  the  rending  of  the  veil, 
by  the  hand  of  the  Sabbath,  few  men  would  have 
had  the  inclination  to  enter  within  the  sacred  pene- 
tralia of  their  being.  But,  glorious  to  tell,  the 
Sabbath  has  torn  off"  man's  earthly  disguises, 
raised  the  vassal  of  labour  from  his  abject  posture, 
and   proclaimed   aloud   his    original   dignity   and 


72  heaven's    antidote    to 

worth.  How  magnificent  the  field,  and  how 
boundless  the  scope,  thus  opened  to  the  moral  stu- 
dent and  the  Christian  husbandman  ! 


II.  THE  SABBATH  FAVOURS  MORALITY  BY  THE  DIVERSIFIED 
TALENTS  IT  ENLISTS,  AND  THE  INNUMERABLE  AGEN- 
CIES   IT   ORGANIZES,   IN    ITS   SERVICE. 

The  blessed  release  which  the  seventh  day  brings, 
and  the  sacred  leisure  which  it  bestows,  have  in- 
duced the  benevolent  and  the  good  of  our  world 
to  seize  upon  these  facilities  and  turn  them  to  the 
highest  profit  and  advantage  of  mankind.  On  this 
day  talents  that  had  been  buried  in  the  world, 
through  lack  of  a  fitting  sphere  for  their  exercise, 
are  disinterred  and  employed.  Sanctified  gifts, 
that  are  often  compelled  to  lie  barren  through  the 
week,  are  fruitful  in  usefulness  on  the  Sabbath. 
On  this  day  the  pent-up  goodness  of  the  world 
obtains  vent,  the  cramped  energies  of  philan- 
thropy find  enlargement,  while  all  the  holier  sym- 
pathies of  men  for  their  erring  and  outcast  brethren 
are  evoked.  Exhortations  and  teachings,  which  it 
would  affront  the  children  of  the  world  to  thrust 
upon  their  attention  during  the  week,  may  now  be 
fittingly  and  more  effectually  addressed.  Compas- 
sion, that  can  find  an  outlet  only  for  its  yearnings 
whilst  under  the  bonds  of  secular  engagements, 
may  now  freely  go  forth  in  search  of  the  wretched ' 
objects  of  its  commiseration. 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR.  73 

As  soon  as  the  golden  gates  of  the  Sabbath  are 
flung  back,  what  angel-shapes  of  good  rush  in 
upon  the  world  !  As  the  day  advances,  what  glo- 
rious legions  are  going  up  to  assail  the  evils  reign- 
ing in  the  earth !  What  a  holy  host  of  messengers 
are  running  to  and  fro  !  What  lips  are  dropping 
with  divine  instruction !  What  a  multitude  of 
voices,  attuned  by  love,  are  exhausting  all  the  arts 
of  eloquence  !  What  vehement  appeals,  gushing 
from  full  souls,  are  everywhere  smiting  the  ears  of 
apathy,  riving  the  consciences  of  the  guilty,  and 
fusing  the  petrified  hearts  of  the  wicked  !  \  On  this 
day,  in  our  own  land,  not  fewer  than  from  30,000 
to  40,000  recognized  ministers  are  reasoning,  plead-  ^" 
ing,  and  expostulating  with  milUons  of  their  fellow- 
men,  composed  of  all  shades  of  character  and  of 
all  grades  of  guilt.  About  the  same  number  of  l^ 
exhorters  and  evangelists  are  itinerating  the  vil-''^'^ 
lages,  the  hamlets,  and  the  more  outlying  portions 
of  the  population.  I  Home  missionaries,  city  mis- 
sion agents,  visitors  of  the  sick,  and  Bible  readers, 
in  abundance,  are  permeating  the  channels  of  ob- 
scure hfe,  and  purifying  the  dregs  of  society  with 
the  vital  elements  of  truth.  )  Not  less  than  250,000 
Sabbath-school  teachers  are  seeking  to  disinfect  the 
minds,  and  to  mould  and  sanctify  the  characters, 
of  two  millions  of  the  rising  generation,  that  are 
soon  to  supplant  their  fathers.  Besides  these  more 
public  and  organized  efforts  in  the  service  of  mo- 
rality and  religion,  what  earnest  lessons  are  being 

^—  — 


i**- 


74  heaven's    antidote    to 

instilled  in  the  retirements  of  home ;  mothers  in- 
doctrinating their  offspring  with  virtuous  sentiments 
and  godly  precepts,  and  shedding  tears  of  solicitude 
upon  indurated  hearts,  and  fathers  inculcating  upon 
the  impatient  temperament  of  their  sons  the  lessons 
of  wisdom  they  have  acquired  in  the  suffering 
school  of  adversity  and  experience. 

Now  the  end  and  aim  of  all  these  simultaneous 
efforts  is,  so  far  as  they  have  respect  to  the  present 
world,  to  promote  the  interests  of  public  morality* 
And  only  think  for  a  moment  of  the  stupendous, 
deep,  and  permanent  influence  which  this  weekly 
concentration  of  holy  forces  must  exert  upon  the 
g^eneral  mind.  How  it  emboldens  virtue  and  abashes 
vice  !  How  it  chastises  arrogance  and  rewards 
humility !  How  it  opens  the  heart  of  niggardli- 
ness, and  quickens  the  pulses  of  benevolence ! 
How  it  dashes  the  chalice  of  sinful  pleasure  with 
bitterness,  and  discovers  its  dregs  of  gall !  How 
it  bridles  furious  passions,  and  slakes  the  fires  of 
consuming  lusts  !  How  it  hedges  with  briars  and 
thorns  the  ways  of  wickedness,  and  illumines  with 
honour  the  paths  of  justice  and  uprightness  I  How 
many  retire  to  their  evening  rest,  as  the  stricken 
deer  to  its  mossy  couch,  with  the  arrows  of  re- 
morse rankling  in  their  hearts  !  And  what  num- 
bers on  the  succeeding  morning  cross  the  Sabbath 
frontiers,  and  pass  into  the  world  with  the  dread 
voice  of  God  vibrating  on  their  ears,  and  the  thun- 
ders of  his  anffer  reverberating  throudi  their  souls  ! 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR.  75 

But,  in  the  position  we  have  taken,  we  are  open 
to  the  objection  that,  whilst  the  Sabbath  brings  a 
vast  accession  to  the  moral  forces  ordinarily  at 
work  upon  the  world,  it  at  the  same  time  lets  loose 
upon  society  an  amount  of  demoralizing  influences, 
fearfully  predominating  over  all  that  is  healthful 
and  good.  It  will  be  retorted,  that  the  suspension 
of  employment  which  we  demand  for  the  working 
classes  may,  by  multitudes  of  our  countrymen  who 
possess  no  religious  predilections,  and  who  are  con- 
scious of  no  intellectual  cravings,  be  abused  to 
their  own  injury  and  to  the  infliction  of  serious 
evils  upon  society.  Idleness,  it  may  be  alleged,  is 
the  parent  of  mischief.  Authorized  leisure,  falling 
into  the  hands  of  the  profligate,  will  be  sure  to  be 
spent  in  wantonness  and  rioting  ;  drunkards  will 
waste  it  in  debauchery  ;  courtezans  will  find  a  dis- 
engaged population  peculiarly  susceptible  to  their 
blandishments ;  the  devotees  of  pleasure  will  con- 
vert it  into  a  carnival  of  delight :  and  thousands, 
prompted  by  a  lust  for  gain,  will  abet  these  prac- 
tices and  pander  to  these  vile  tastes.  The  priests 
of  Bacchus  will  be  driving'  a  flourishing  trade  in 
the  myriad  temples  of  their  god ;  tea-gardens, 
abounding  with  music  and  dancing,  hot  excitement, 
and  all  the  witcheries  of  sin,  will  present  their  en- 
ticements to  the  young ;  whilst  the  proprietors  of 
steamboats,  and  the  directors  of  railways,  will  in- 
crease their  dividends,  by  ministering  to  this  fever- 
ish passion  for  lawless  liberty  and  joy. 


76  heaven's    antidote    to 

It  is  too  true.  We  admit  it  all.  Facts  impart  a 
mournful  plausibility  to  this  objection.  But  we 
deny  the  inference  which  the  adversary  of  the  Sab- 
bath would  draw  from  it.  Because  the  sacred 
leisure  which  God  gives  to  man  is  thus  perverted 
from  its  exalted  uses,  must  we  then  chain  men 
down,  like  condemned  galley-slaves,  to  everlasting 
drudgeries,  in  order  to  keep  them  out  of  the  reach 
of  temptation  ?  Must  we  bandage  their  limbs  and 
stultify  their  minds,  to  prevent  the  gratification  of 
their  low-born  desires  and  the  spread  of  their  con- 
tagious example  ?  Are  we  to  deny  them  the  free- 
dom and  rights  of  men  lest  they  should  abuse  them 
to  licentiousness  and  immorality  ?  Nay,  men  must 
be  dealt  with  as  moral  agents,  and  not  as  tools  in 
the  hands  of  purblind  expediency.  The  Sabbath 
is  a  test  of  moral  bias.  It  leaves  men  to  the  spon- 
taneous outgoings  of  their  nature.  It  discovers  of 
what  sort  they  are.  The  Gospel  wars  not  so  much 
against  particular  forms  as  it  does  against  the  prin- 
ciple of  evil.  It  directs  its  remedial  measures  not 
so  much  to  the  symptoms  as  to  the  central  seat  of 
the  disorder.  It  is  not* chiefly  engaged  in  plucking 
and  crushing  the  poisonous  fruits  as  fast  as  they 
ripen,  but  fetches  its  heavy  blows  at  the  roots  of 
the  upas  tree.  For,  be  it  remembered,  that  what- 
ever luxuriant  evils  may  be  thrust  to  the  surface 
on  the  Sabbath,  they  were  previously  already  in 
existence,  sprouting  in  the  seed-bed  of  the  heart, 
and  waiting  only  for  favourable  circumstances  to 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR.  77 

accelerate  their  development  and  nurse  them  to 
maturity.  The  Sabbath,  therefore,  does  not  give 
birth  to  the  many  baneful  evils  that  spring  up  and 
flourish  beneath  its  brightness,  any  more  than  the 
sun  can  be  said  to  create  the  deadly  hemlock  and 
nightshade,  or  the  hurtful  tares,  that  are  nourished 
from  the  fountain  of  its  splendour.  All  violent, 
arbitrary,  and  oppressive  attempts  to  hinder  the 
desecration  of  the  Sabbath  must  fail.  The  cure 
will  be  only  skin-deep.  If  every  outlet  for  the 
virus  of  society  be  closed,  the  raging  malady  will 
be  driven  deeper  into  the  social  constitution.  Any 
panacea,  to  be  efficacious,  must  go  to  the  very  core 
of  human  nature,  and  purge  its  innate  rottenness. 

Thus  the  friends  of  morality  and  of  the  Gospel 
have  abundant  incentives  to  exert  themselves.  Let 
them  still  continue  bravely  to  breast  the  dark 
surges  of  the  world's  wickedness.  Their  Sabbath 
mission  is  pre-eminently  aggressive.  To  stand  still 
is  impossible,  amid  the  rush,  and  restlessness,  and 
roar  of  the  human  sea.  By  presenting  a  broad 
front,  and  by  a  firm  evangelical  bulwark  alone, 
can  the  strong  tide  of  worldliness  be  turned,  and 
progress  be  achieved.  Whilst  the  Sabbath  pecu- 
liarly exposes  the  irreligious  and  the  vicious  to  the 
appliances  of  hell,  it  likewise  opens  a  sublime 
sphere  for  Christian  labour  and  enterprise,  which, 
without  it,  we  might  seek  in  vain.  On  every  Sab- 
bath the  weekly  controversy  is  renewed,  between 
God  and  Satan,  between  truth  and  error,  between 


78  heaven's    antidote    to 

virtue  and  vice,  between  loyalty  and  treason  !  The 
singular  moral  phenomenon  is  seen  of  light  strug- 
gling for  ascendency  in  the  midst  of  darkness,  and 
of  a  redeemed  race  seeking  to  imbue  the  corrupted 
mass  of  men  with  the  principles  of  holiness  and 
love.  Thus,  from  year  to  year,  the  universal 
battle  rages  on  between  the  emissaries  of  heaven 
and  hell — ^between  Michael  and  the  dragon ;  but, 
through  all  the  vicissitudes  and  evolutions  of  the 
church,  the  tide  of  public  morality  is  ever  mount- 
ing higher  and  higher. 

It  is  true  this  is  not  at  all  times  apparent.  There 
are,  ever  and  anon,  seasons  of  depression  and  of 
temporary  retrogression.  The  religious  progress 
of  a  nation  is  subject  to  fluctuations,  as  well  as  its 
trade  and  commerce.  The  present  period,  for  in- 
stance, is  a  fearful  crisis  in  the  social  and  spiritual 
condition  of  our  country.  Practical  religion  seems 
long  to  have  been  ebbing ;  it  is  indeed  at  its  neap- 
tide.  The  bonds  of  public  morals  are  alarmingly 
relaxed.  Still  we  are  anxiously  looking  for  the 
return  of  a  spring-tide  of  4)rosperity.  Meanwhile, 
if  we  take  an  average  standard  of  comparison,  we 
shall  find  that  we  have  advanced  considerably 
above  the  highest  point  of  past  times.  Besides, 
many  of  the  popular  sins  which  we  most  pungently 
deplore,  are  such  only  as  seen  in  the  purer  and 
clearer  light  which  Cliristianity  sheds  increasingly 
around  us. 

But  a  solemn  responsibility  rests  upon  all  Chris- 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR.  79 

tian  people  !  Let  them,  especially  at  this  critical 
juncture,  beware  of  throwing  any  stumbling-blocks 
in  the  way  of  the  general  reformation  of  Sabbath 
manners,  and  of  the  moral  and  spiritual  regenera- 
tion of  society.  All  now  depends  upon  the  energy 
and  perseverance  of  the  good ;  for  if  the  Sabbath, 
through  their  supineness  and  unfaithfulness,  should 
be  partially  abolished,  and  spent  in  labour  or  in 
licentiousness,  how  then  could  the  agents  of  good 
reach  the  people  ? — how  could  the  machinery  of 
salvation  be  successfully  worked  ?  All  men — and 
our  working  population  in  particular — would  be 
subjected  to  evil  influences  only,  and  that  conti- 
nually. 


VI.    THE  RELIGIOUS  ADVANTAGES   OF   THE    SABBATH. 

These  are  so  manifest  and  unequivocal,  that, 
but  for  the  completion  of  the  argument,  their  con- 
sideration might  well  be  omitted.  Forming,  how- 
ever, as  they  do,  the  culminating  point  in  the  sub- 
ject, they  claim  a  succinct  notice  at  our  hands.  A 
record  of  them  is  as  essential  to  the  perfection  of 
the  subject  as  the  head-stone  is  to  the  finish  of  an 
edifice.  The  higher  we  have  ascended  into  the 
Sabbath's  lofty  territory,  the  purer  has  the  air  be- 
come, the  more  has  the  prospect  widened,  and  the 
richer  have  been  the  clusters  of  blessings  we  have 


80  heaven's    antidote    to 

plucked.  And  now  we  have  at  length  reached  its 
divine  heights,  and  stand  midway  betwixt  earth 
and  heaven,  from  whence  the  mists  of  human  woe 
are  seen  floating  at  our  feet,  the  tumults  of  earth 
dying  away  into  a  confused  murmur,  whilst  up- 
wards the  enraptured  gaze  is  riveted  upon  the 
scenery  of  the  opening  skies.  The  benefits  of  the 
Sabbath  are  commensurate  with  the  heights  and 
depths  of  man's  nature,  and  the  lengths  and 
breadths  of  its  necessities.  The  mind  of  man  is 
not  capacious  enough  to  hold  all  the  benefactions 
that  the  Sabbath  pours  forth  ;  neither  can  the  dower 
which  it  confers  upon  the  intellect,  nor  the  contri- 
butions it  makes  to  domestic  enjoyment,  exhaust 
the  treasures  that  it  holds  in  store.  It  reserves  its 
noblest  blessings  for  the  spirit  of  man,  in  the  exer- 
cise of  its  highest  prerogatives  and  in  its  most  dig- 
nifying relations. 

Let  us  now,  with  as  much  brevity  as  possible, 
advert  to  a  few  spiritual  advantages  of  supreme 
moment,  accruing  from  the  observance  of  the  Sab- 
bath, so  far  as  they  bear  upon  the  temporal  interests 
of  mankind. 


I.  THE  SABBATH  IS  THE  CHIEF  MEDIUM  FOR  PRESERVING 
AND  PERPETUATING  THE  KNOWLEDGE  AND  WORSHIP 
OF    GOD    IN    THE    WORLD. 

A   correct    conception   of    God,   together   with 
veneration  for  his  character,  is  of  infinite  import- 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR.  81 


ance  to  mankind.  It  constitutes  the  best  safeguard 
of  states.  It  imposes  a  salutary  check  upon  rulers, 
and  it  inspires  the  governed  with  respect  for  the 
majesty  of  law.  It  is  essential  to  the  preservation 
of  morality  ;  virtue  would  perish  without  it.  It  is 
indispensable  to  the  maintenance  of  society.  It  is 
the  basis  of  all  true  brotherhood.  It  reveals  the 
origin  and  guaranties  the  possession  of  human 
rights.  It  is  the  most  ennobling  element  of  human 
character.  It  is  at  once  the  most  simple  and  sub- 
lime, the  most  necessary  and  stupendous,  of  all 
studies.  It  keeps  man,  on  the  one  hand,  from  de- 
generating into  the  brute,  whilst,  on  the  other,  it 
advances  him  to  a  state  of  intellectuality  and  spirit- 
ualization.  It  is  requisite  for  the  cultivation  of  the 
religious  sentiment  in  man ;  and  without  such  de- 
velopment his  nature  is  but  half  disclosed — his 
latent  character  but  half  expressed. 

But  the  knowledge  of  God,  and  therefore  all  the 
precious  benefits  resulting  from  it,  depend  upon 
the  sanctification  of  the  Sabbath.  Wherever  the 
Sabbath  does  not  exist,  there  is  no  religion,  no  in- 
telligent homage.  Man  utterly  forgets  God,  and 
God  punitively  hides  his  face  from  man.  "  The 
moral  world  becomes  a  desert,  where  life  never 
springs  and  beauty  never  smiles.  Putrid  with  sin, 
and  stupefied  with  ignorance,  the  soul  of  man  loses 
its  rational  character,  and  prostrates  itself  before 
idols,  stocks,  and  stones.  To  these  man  offers  his 
prayers,  his  praises,  and  his  victims ;  to  these  he 


10 


K 


82  heaven's    antidote    to 

sacrifices  his  offspring ;  and  to  these  he  immolates 
the  honour  of  his  wife.  A  brutal  worshipper  of  a 
brutal  god,  he  hopes  for  protection  and  blessing 
from  the  assumption  of  every  folly  and  the  perpe- 
tration of  every  crime."*  A  population  wronged 
of  their  Sabbaths,  and  enslaved  by  ceaseless  toil, 
cannot  possibly  retain  any  spiritual  or  exalted  con- 
ceptions of  the  Supreme  Being.  Besides,  having 
no  adequate  opportunities  for  the  acquisition  of 
defined  ideas  on  this  momentous  subject,  the  in- 
evitable tendency  of  a  servile  destiny  is  to  generate 
gross  and  derogatory  notions,  corresponding  with 
their  own  debased  condition.  With  the  spiritual 
portion  of  their  nature  virtually  cancelled,  and 
well  nigh  every  diviner  lineament  effaced,  how 
can  they  think  of  God — if  they  think  of  Him  at 
all — otherwise  than  as  such  an  one  as  themselves  ? 
The  popular  religion  of  a  people  is  an  infallible  in- 
dex to  their  character  and  habits.  Where  low  and 
obscure  notions  of  God  are  entertained,  we  shall 
find  them  indicative  of  an  ignominious  condition, 
of  a  rude  disposition,  of  an  entombment  of  mind, 
of  an  utter  prostration  of  all  moral  majesty. 
Whereas,  where  the  most  luminous,  vivid,  and 
profound  conceptions  of  the  Divine  Being  abound, 
we  find  a  people  distinguished  by  all  that  is  re- 
fined in  manners,  urbane  in  disposition,  and  enno- 
bling in  pursuits ;  renowned  for  their  scientific  at- 

*  Dr.  Dwight. 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR.  83 

tainments,  for  the  achievements  of  their  genius, 
and  tlie  beneficence  of  their  virtues. 


II.  NECESSARY   FOR  THE   DIFFUSION   OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

The  Sabbath  is  imperatively  necessary  for  the 
diffusion  of  Christianity.  These  are  natural  and 
hereditary  aUies.  There  is  a  divine  kinship  be- 
tween them.  The  hand  that  smites  the  one  insults 
and  wounds  the  other  also.  Their  success  or  de- 
feat is  correlative.  They  live  or  die  together, 
sharers  in  one  indissoluble  fate.  Voltaire  keenly 
felt  this,  and  gnashed  his  teeth  in  impotent  rage. 
His  malignant  attempt  to  subvert  Christianity  sig- 
nally failed,  through  his  inability  to  abolish  the 
Sabbath,  and  stifle  the  immortal  yearnings  of  men's 
hearts  for  its  sacred  privileges  and  immemorial 
usages.  The  Sabbath,  every  week,  opens  the  vast 
temple  of  creation,  for  the  celebration  of  solemn  wor- 
ship, gathering  adoring  hosts  around  the  enshrine- 
ments  of  mercy,  and  repeating,  throughout  its  spa- 
cious courts,  with  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand 
voices,  the  transforming  story  of  the  Cross.  Chris- 
tians !  we  urgently''  appeal  to  you.  Shall  this  temple 
of  praise — this  pavilion  of  peace — be  closed  by  the 
suppression  of  the  Lord's  Day  ?  Shall  the  throne 
be  forsaken,  and  the  altar  overturned  ?  Shall  the 
anxious  crowds,  that  have  been  wont  to  come  up 
to  the  solemn  feasts  of  Zion,  be  turned  back  upon 


84  heaven's   antidote   to 

the  desert  places  of  a  bleak  and  bitter  world? 
Shall  the  rehearsals  of  the  Song  of  Redemption 
cease,  and,  instead  thereof,  the  groans  of  those  who 
are  wrestling  with  a  slavish  lot  be  heard  ascending 
to  the  ears  of  the  Lord  of  Sabaoth  ?  Shall  Chris- 
tianity be  arrested  in  the  very  midst  of  its  enter- 
prises, and  hmited  from  the  world  ere  its  benign 
mission  has  been  half  accomplished  ?  Is  the 
highest  manifestation  of  benevolence  to  succumb 
to  the  hostile  combinations  of  human  selfishness  ? 
Is  piety  to  be  trampled  under  foot  by  impiety  ?  Is 
religion  to  be  supplanted  by  atheism  ?  Is  guilt  to 
go  pining  to  the  grave  without  the  discovery  of  its 
expiatory  sacrifice  ?  Is  the  day  coming — are  we 
already  entering  its  shadows — when  the  great 
Teacher  and  loving  Saviour  is  to  be  suffered  to  go 
in  and  out  among  his  purchased  ones  no  more  ? 
Oh,  men  of  God  !  awake  and  bestir  yourselves  to 
a  right  appreciation  of  the  Sabbath  !  If  you  love 
Christianity — if  you  believe  it  to  be  of  God — if 
you  believe  it  to  be  the  only  means  of  restoring 
man  to  his  Maker's  allegiance,  likeness,  and  fellow- 
ship— then  diligently  guard  its  imperiled  treasures 
by  upholding  the  bulwarks  of  the  Sabbath.  Every 
profane  foot  that  trespasses  upon  its  sanctity — 
every  additional  burden  of  duty  imposed  upon 
our  operatives,  our  cabmen,  our  domestics,  and  rail- 
way servants — every  effort  to  relax  the  stringency 
of  its  requirements — e\  ery  attempt  to  popularise  it 
by  the  introduction  of  continental  licentiousness — 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR.  85 

must  be  jealously  watched  and  strenuously  re- 
sisted. If  the  working  orders  can  but  be  brought 
to  despise  or  undervalue  this  blessed  birthright,  it 
will  not  be  long  before  it  is  either  forcibly  wrested 
from  them,  or  bribed  away  for  some  alluring  mor- 
sel. In  that  melancholy  day  of  their  whole  nature's 
nakedness,  may  God  have  mercy  on  them  !  for  the 
pity  and  the  help  of  man  will  not  avail ! 


III.    THE    SABBATH    GUARANTIES  A  SEASON    FOR  UNMOLESTED 

ATTENTION   TO   THE   SOUL. 

If  the  body  needs  intervals  of  repose — if  the 
mind  requires  the  redemption  of  opportunities  for 
its  improvement — how  much  more  does  the  soul 
sigh  for  a  kind  recognition  of  its  claims  !  And  the 
Sabbath-day  does  pay  homage  to  man's  immortal 
spirit.  It  enshrines  his  dignity.  It  memorializes 
his  primitive  excellence  and  glory.  It  foreshadows 
his  brilliant  or  his  appalling  destiny.  It  is  the  an- 
cient and  enduring  witness  to  the  undiminished 
worth  of  his  sullied  nature.  It  is  that  strip  of  our 
time  which  especially  links  earth  with  eternity ; 
which  dwindles  the  present  to  a  mere  speck,  in  the 
vastness  of  that  futurity  which  it  discloses.  In 
many  senses  it  is  a  type  and  symbol  of  heaven. 
It  repeals,  to  a  great  extent,  for  the  time  being,  the 
invidious  distinctions  of  society.  It  unsceptres  the 
master,  and  denudes  the  hireling  of  the  badges  of 


10*  *  K2 


86  HEAVEN    S     ANTIDOTE     TO 

his  servitude.  Opulence  cannot  buy  up  its  spiritual 
blessings,  whilst  poverty  operates  as  no  disqualifi- 
cation for  its  favours.  Its  smiles  are  as  sweet  in 
the  wood-side  hut  as  in  the  apartments  of  the 
marble  palace.  It  pays  no  obsequious  deference  to 
learning,  rank,  or  worldly  power ;  and  it  offers  no 
insulting  slights  to  millions  whom  the  world  dis- 
dains. Its  glances  go  far  deeper  than  the  rags  or 
robes,  the  roughness  or  the  polish,  of  the  outer 
man.  It  is  sent  as  a  messenger  to  the  godlike 
guest  lodging  in  all  men's  bosoms,  and  proclaims, 
in  the  ears  of  all  alike,  the  abstract  grandeur  and 
preciousness  of  the  human  soul. 

On  this  day,  the  merchant,  the  trader,  the  hus- 
bandman, and  the  mechanic,  can  yield  up  their 
whole  thoughts  to  the  momentous  matters  of  sal- 
vation, and  give  wing  to  their  aspirations  after 
eternal  life ;  while  at  the  same  time  they  enjoy  the 
satisfying  conviction,  that  no  temporal  duties  are 
thereby  neglected,  nor  any  deranging  check  inter- 
posed to  the  ordinary  courses  of  business.  Free 
from  the  irritations  incident  to  secular  pursuits, 
here  is  a  season  eminently  adapted  for  celestial 
contemplation,  for  the  study  of  the  heart,  for  the 
perusal  of  the  Scriptures,  for  the  special  exercise 
of  spiritual  gifts  and  graces,  for  intercession  on  be- 
half of  others,  and  for  an  undistracted  attendance 
on  the  public  solemnities  of  rehgion. 

"  God  has  anointed  this  day  with  the  oil  of  glad- 
ness above  all  its  fellows.    What  the  sun  is  among 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR.  87 


the  planets — what  the  market-day  is  to  the  trades- 
man— what  a  fair  wind  is  to  the  sailor — what  the 
tide  is  to  the  waterman— 7th at  the  Sabbath-day  is 
to  the  soul.  Augustine  calls  it  the  '  Queen  of  days.' 
It  is  the  great  market-day  of  heaven,  when  starving 
souls  may  take  in,  and  lay  up,  provision  for  the 
rest  of  the  week,  yea,  for  eternity  itself  Blot  out 
this  day  from  the  calendar  of  the  Christian,  and  all 
that  remains  would  be  cloudy  and  cheerkss.^'* 


IV.   ITS  OBSERVANCE  THE  BEST  PREPARATIVE  FOR  THE  VICIS- 
SITUDES OF  THE  WEEK. 

The  sanctification  of  the  Sabbath  is  the  best  pre- 
parative for  the  vicissitudes  of  the  week.  It  mstils 
accurate  views  of  the  world.  It  disenchants  the 
imagination  of  the  spells  of  the  great  delusion.  It 
sends  us  forth  into  the  highways  and  bypaths  of 
life,  with  watchful  eyes,  an  engarrisoned  heart,  and 
an  attempered  spirit.  It  dignifies  our  daily  duties, 
instead  of  suffering  us  to  be  undignified  and  de- 
based by  them.  It  corrects  our  estimate  of  tem- 
poral prosperity,  and  enables  us  to  enjoy  its  favours 
with  moderation  and  meekness  ;  whilst  it  unstings 
the  privations  of  adversity,  and  helps  us  to  bear 
them  with  magnanimity.  It  superinduces  a  mood 
of  mind  and  tone  of  feeling,  calculated  to  blunt  the 
poignancy  of  human  griefs,  to  break  the  shocks  of 

*  Sherman's  Plea  for  the  Sabbath. 


88  heaven's    antidote    to 

worldly  disappointments,  and  to  preserve  some 
cheering  beams  of  hopefulness  amidst  the  darkest 
day.  It  imparts  equanimity  to  the  disordered 
passions — acts  as  an  anodyne  to  the  feverish  excite- 
ment of  the  mind — smooths  the  asperities  of  the 
temper — and  thus,  by  restoring  the  functions  of 
self-control,  aids  us  in  triumphing  over  the  adverse 
circumstances  of  life.  It  forewarns  and  forearms 
for  the  conflict  between  grace  and  corruption ;  it 
rouses  the  mind  into  a  defiant  and  repellent  attitude 
to  meet  the  onsets  of  temptation ;  and  it  makes  the 
blackest  cloud  of  impending  trial  transparent  with 
divine  light,  as  we  enter  upon  its  shadows.  Its 
counsels  are  generally  conducive  to  our  worldly 
interests,  to  social  elevation,  to  independence  of 
character,  and  to  an  honourable  reputation.  And 
this  it  achieves,  not  by  fostering  the  spirit  of  sordid 
gain,  but  by  enforcing  the  claims  of  godliness, 
whose  prerogative  it  is,  to  have  "the  promise  of 
the  life  that  now  is,  as  well  as  of  that  which  is  to 
come."  We  cannot  conclude  this  part  of  our 
subject  better,  than  by  adducing  the  testimony  of 
the  eminent  Lord  Chief  Justice  Hale,  respecting 
the  salutary  influence  of  the  Sabbath  on  the  en- 
gagements of  the  ensuing  week.  He  says:  "I 
have  found,  by  a  strict  and  diligent  observation, 
that  a  due  observing  of  the  Lord's  Day  has  ever 
had  joined  to  it  a  blessing  upon  the  rest  of  my 
time,  and  the  week  thus  begun  has  been  blessed 
and  prosperous  to  me ;   and,  on  the  other  side, 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR.  89 

when  I  have  been  negligent  of  the  duties  of  this 
day,  the  rest  of  the  week  has  been  unsuccessful  and 
unhappy  to  my  secular  employments,  so  that  I 
could  easily  make  an  estimate  of  my  success 
through  the  week  by  the  manner  of  my  passing 
this  day." 

Although  the  demonstration  of  the  divine  origin 
of  the  Sabbath  forms  no  part  of  our  contemplated 
design,  still  it  is  by  no  means  extraneous  to  the 
scope  of  this  essay.  If  the  foregoing  views  be 
correct,  they  must  force  on  every  candid  mind  the 
conviction,  that  the  redemption  of  a  seventh  por- 
tion of  our  time  from  common  uses,  and  its  preser- 
vation from  age  to  age,  despite  the  encroachments 
of  human  hostility,  impiety,  and  cupidity,  does  not 
arise  from  a  mere  conventional  compact  of  society; 
but  rather  that  it  exhibits  marks  of  a  more  pro- 
found and  far-seeing  wisdom,  and  tokens  of  a 
higher  and  more  benevolent  watchfulness,  than 
human  sagacity  could  possibly  have  displayed.  If 
an  obvious  fitness  of  things — if  striking  institutional 
adaptations  to  man's  nature  and  necessities — maybe 
regarded  here,  as  elsewhere,  as  proofs  of  intelligent 
design,  then  are  we  driven  to  the  irresistible  con- 
clusion, that  "the  Sabbath  was  made  for  man" 
by  his  benignant  Creator,  and  was  part  of  the 
original  constitution  of  things.  For  it  would  be 
irrational  to  suppose  that  these  beautiful  harmonies 
are  fortuitous,  or  that  the  sum  of  these  advantages 
is  the  result  of  mere  accident. 


90  heaven's    antidote    to 

It  only  remains  for  us  now  to  draw  these  re- 
marks to  a  close.  And,  in  doing  so,  we  would 
energetically  urge  upon  our  enlightened  yoke- 
fellows the  tremendous  importance  of  being  found 
true  to  themselves  and  to  their  country  in  the 
present  crisis.  Let  them  display  a  magnanimous 
firmness  equal  to  the  emergency.  Let  them  unite 
and  make  common  cause  against  every  attempt  at 
Sabbath  spoliation  and  invasion.  Let  not  the 
individuals  of  one  section  of  the  community  of 
labour  be  so  base  and  venal,  as  to  be  successfully 
bribed  into  the  surrender  of  their  own  privileges, 
or  the  betrayal  of  the  rights  of  their  comrades. 
Great  vigilance  and  wariness  must  be  exercised; 
as  the  transference  of  the  seventh  day  to  mammon 
will  not,  probably,  be  overtly  sought,  but  attempts 
will  be  made  to  bring  it  about  gradually  and 
stealthily — now  tampering  with  one  section,  and 
now  with  another ;  and  manifesting  great  care  and 
craftiness  in  introducing  the  thin  part  of  the  wedge, 
which  will  be  well  edged  with  gold  to  make  it 
work  its  way.  Plausible  pretexts  will  be  found  in 
abundance ;  for  wickedness  is  never  at  a  loss  for 
specious  arguments  wherewith  to  sanctify  its  foul- 
est treasons.  But,  by  a  timely  persuasion  of  the 
perils  by  which  they  are  menaced ;  by  a  prompt 
and  manful  decision  of  purpose ;  and  by  a  simulta- 
neous movement  in  the  right  direction,  the  crisis 
may  be  safely  passed.  Whilst,  on  the  other  hand, 
by  disunion  and  faithlessness  among  themselves, 


THE     CURSE     OF     LABOUR.  91 

by  a  reckless  indifference  to  the  issues  of  the  pend- 
ing contest,  or  by  a  bUnd  and  an  infatuated  hos- 
tility to  the  day,  on  the  ground  of  its  sanctity,  such 
mad  and  suicidal  conduct  must  lead  at  least  to  the 
partial  overthrow  of  an  institution  conservative  of 
peerless  blessings  to  the  working  classes,  and  will 
entail  upon  them  and  their  progeny  an  awful 
retribution. 

Suppose  the  Sabbath  were  to  be,  by  all  people, 
consentaneously  abolished ;  let  the  railway  trains, 
as  on  other  days,  dart  athwart  the  land ;  let  the 
tide  of  commerce,  unarrested,  flow ;  let  the  hives 
of  industry  still  swarm ;  let  the  clangor  of  ma- 
chinery and  the  deafening  roar  of  trade  continue  to 
resound  ;  let  the  tramp  of  traffic  still  go  on ;  let  the 
greedy  grasp  their  gains,  and  the  slaves  go  groaning 
beneath  their  fetters ;  in  short,  let  the  contentious 
world  proceed  as  at  other  times.  And  what  would 
be  the  upshot  of  all  this  ?  Should  we  be  the  hap- 
pier— the  healthier — the  freer — the  richer  ?  Would 
any  one  of  the  ends  of  our  terrestrial  existence  be 
in  any  degree  facilitated  thereby  ?  Would  the  sel- 
fishness of  man,  unchecked  and  unreproved,  be 
less  grinding  or  cruel  ?  Would  the  oppressor  be 
less  tyrannical  ?  Would  any  of  the  acknowledged 
evils  of  society  be  diminished  one  iota  ?  Would 
the  competitions,  the  rivalries,  and  the  heart- 
burnings of  men  be  less  crushing  and  ruinous  ? 
Alas,  no  !  every  evil  under  which  we  now  writhe 
would  be  aggravated ;  every  carnal  passion  would 


92      heaven's   antidote    to,   etc. 

then  have  full  swing,  every  undamped  lust  would 
then  burn  with  increased  intensity,  health  would 
be  prematurely  blasted,  the  nobility  of  man  would 
be  annihilated,  and  the  glorious  energies  of  his  im- 
mortal spirit  would  be  hopelessly  imprisoned. 
Mammon  and  Bacchus  might  continue  to  be  dili- 
gently served,  but  God  would  be  unworshipped  ! 
Mankind,  thus  ingloriously  wedded  to  the  world, 
would  through  all  their  lives  grovel  in  the  dust, 
and  never  devoutly  raise  their  foreheads  to  the 
temple  of  the  sky  ! 

Help,  ye  wearied  children  of  labour  !  Help,  ye 
Christian  ministers  and  philanthropists !  Help, 
ye  statesmen  and  legislators !  Help,  ye  pa- 
triots, whose  hearts  yearn  for  the  welfare  of  your 
suffering  kind !  Help,  that  the  most  distant  ap- 
proach to  such  a  state  of  things  as  we  have  just 
surmised  may  be  prevented,  and  that  the  blessed 
advantages  chartered  by  the  Sabbath  may  be  faith- 
fully preserved  and  zealously  extended. 


FRONTISPIECE  TO  THE  TOBCH  OF  TIME. 

"By  this  kind  provision,  home  is  still  a  reality." — See  Page  21. 


THE 


TORCH  OF  TIME, 


THE   TEMPORAL  ADVANTAGES 


THE    SABBATH, 


CONSIDERED  IN  RELATION  TO  THE  WORKING  CLASSES. 


1/  BY 

DAVID  FARQUHAB,  Machinist. 


Tlie  Sabbath  is  the  best  gift  of  God  to  man,  and  especially  to  the  Poor.' 

O  day,  most  calm,  most  bright, 

The  week  were  dark,  but  for  thy  light; 

Thy  Torch  doth  show  the  way." 


CONTENTS. 


The  Sabbath  is  a  great  temporal  blessing,  viewed  simply 
as  a  day  of  rest,  -  -  -  -  -      8 

The  Sabbath  is  a  great  temporal  blessing,  as  its  periodic 
return  lightens  the  burden  of  present  toil,  -  10 

The  Sabbath  is  a  great  temporal  blessing,  as  it  is  the  best 
opportunity  for  cultivating  family  affection  and  do- 
mestic order,  fellowship,  and  cleanliness,       -  -    17 

The  Sabbath  is  a  great  temporal  blessing,"  as  it  affords 
time  for  mental  exercise,  -  -  -  28 

The  Sabbath,  to  the  working  classes,  is  a  great  temporal 
blessing,  as  it  tends  to  promote  morality  and  religion 
among  them,        -  -  -  -  -    38 

The  greatest  temporal  advantage  of  the  Sabbath  to  the 
labouring  classes  arises  from  its  fitness  for  spreading 
moral  and  religious  principles  amongst  them,         -  47 

In  an  over-populated  country  like  ours,  where  labourers 
are  plentiful  and  labour  so  badly  remunerated — where 
six  days'  income,  in  most  cases,  is  insufficient  to  sup- 
port the  labourer  in  comfort — the  temptation  of  an  ad- 
tional  sum  to  his  common  earnings  is  by  far  too  power- 
ful to  be  withstood,  -  -  -  -    52 


L2 


111 


IV  CONTENTS. 


The  temptation  to  Sabbath  labour,  arising  from  poverty, 
is  not  the  only  way  by  which  the  labouring  classes  are 
exposed  to  the  ruinous  course  of  extending  their  la- 
bours to  that  day,         -  -  -  -  56 

In  a  great  commercial  country  like  ours,  where  the  com- 
petition of  individual  interests  is  so  keen  and  so  uni- 
versal, if  the  rest  of  the  Sabbath  is  encroached  upon 
by  unnecessary  labour,  such  encroachments  have  a 
tendency  to  extend,  not  only  throughout  one  entire  de- 
partment of  labour,  but  to  every  other  branch  of 
labour,  -  -  -  -  -  -    61 


INTRODUCTION 


The  author  of  this  Essay  is  a  working  man,  in  the 
employment  of  Messrs.  Kinnard  &  Co.,  Engineers, 
of  the  Wallace  Fomidry,  Dundee,  and  is  an  attend- 
ant on  the  ministry  of  the  Rev.  George  Lewis,  of 
St.  David's  Free  Church,  with  whom  we  have  been 
in  communication  respecting  him,  and  from  whom 
we  have  been  favoured  with  full  and  satisfactory 
information  as  to  his  character  and  position  in  life. 
In  transmitting  to  us  a  sketch  of  Farquhar's  life, 
which,  at  the  request  of  Mr.  Lewis,  he  had  drawn 
up,  and  which  the  reader  will  presently  have  the 
gratification  of  perusing,  Mr.  Lewis  remarks : — 
"  Farquhar's  account  of  himself  is  at  least  brief, 
and  it  is  his  own,  like  his  Essay,  which  I  never 
saw  nor  heard  of  until  he  asked  me  to  certify,  if 
needful,  his  being  a  workman.  I  have  nothing  to 
add,  save  that  I  have  long  noticed  him  as  one  more 
than  usually  anxious  to  gather  up  the  fragments 


1* 


VI  INTRODUCTION. 

of  his  time  and  opportunities  for  intellectual  im- 
provement. Some  years  ago  he  was,  along  with 
many  others  here,  fully  six  months  out  of  employ- 
ment. Instead  of  idling  and  lounging  ahout  the 
streets,  he  went  to  a  drawing  master,  and  filled  up 
his  time  in  preparing  to  fill  his  place  more  usefully 
when  the  times  should  mend." 

This  testimony  of  Farquhar's  minister  to  his  po- 
sition, his  character,  and  his  worth,  is  all  that  can 
be  desired  upon  these  points.  That  his  Essay  will 
be  found  in  accordance  with  the  principles  thus 
evidenced,  the  reader  will  be  able  to  satisfy  him- 
self of  by  its  perusal.  That  the  author  is  fully 
imbued  with  the  use  and  value  of  the  Sabbatical 
institution  to  man,  we  have  further  proof  of  from 
some  private  correspondence  we  have  had  with 
him,  in  the  course  of  which  he  thus  expresses  him- 
self on  the  subject.  Addressing  himself  to  the  ad- 
judicators, he  writes :  "  Your  efforts  to  secure  addi- 
tional Prizes  is  a  substantial  proof  that  your  pre- 
vious communication  to  the  competitors  was  not 
the  hollow  sound  of  flattery,  but  the  true  effusion 
of  hearts  fully  ahve  to  their  responsibility  of  assist- 
ing the  labouring  men  in  defending  from  aU  inno- 
vation their  Heaven-inscribed  Charter,  their  seventh 
day  of  rest,  and  aiding  us  in  maintaining  its  Divine 
origin  and  appointment.  If  we  allow  it  to  lose  the 
seal  of  Heaven,  its  temporal  advantages,  although 
indispensable  to  our  social  comfort  and  existence 
as  civilized  beings,  will  not  long  protect  it  from 


INTRODUCTION.  Vll 

being  destroyed  by  our  own  carelessness  on  the 
one  hand,  and  the  grasping  ambition  of  worldly 
men  on  the  other.  Yea,  even  the  refinements  and 
subtleties  of  a  cold  and  heartless,  yet  fashionable, 
philanthropy,  are  busy  destroying  the  foundations 
of  the  only  haven  (worthy  of  the  name)  in  the 
troubled  ocean  of  toil,  in  which  the  labourer  finds 
conscious  and  comfortable  rest.  <  A  sea  without 
a  shore'  is  an  appalling  conception,  but  the  labour- 
ing classes  without  a  Sabbath  is  a  conception 
which  the  imagination  of  a  fiend  would  lack  figure 
to  describe." 

As  an  incidental  part  of  this  great  Sabbath 
movement,  we  cannot  forbear  adverting  to  the 
spirit  of  loyalty  and  gratitude,  which  the  Essa^asts 
have  throughout  it  shown,  for  the  patronage  and 
countenance  they  have  received,  in  the  course  of 
it,  from  the  very  highest  personages  in  the  land. 
Among  those  who  felt  thus,  and  were  impelled  by 
their  feehngs  to  give  utterance  to  them,  Farquhar 
was  one  of  the  first,  and  in  the  letter,  from  which 
we  have  already  quoted,  he  thus  spontaneously 
expressed  himself:  "On  observing  an  advertise- 
ment in  the  British  Banner  of  last  week,  I  was 
overcome  with  a  feeling  I  can  scarcely  describe,  on 
noticing  the  names  of  the  august  personages  your 
unwearied  solicitude  had  secured  to  patronize  the 
Working  Men's  Essays,  in  vindication  of  their 
Sabbath  rights."  This  significant  fact,  which  is 
not  a  solitary  one,  but  many  times  multiplied  in  the 


VIU  INTRODUCTION. 

correspondence  we  have  had  with  the  competitors, 
is  one  that  it  would  be  well  for  our  legislators  to 
bear  in  mind,  ere  they  venture  to  permit  such  a 
great  national  sin  to  be  perpetrated,  as  has  but  now 
been  suggested  in  a  parliamentary  question,  and 
responded  to  with  far  too  much  favour  and  encour- 
agement, by  a  ministerial  authority.  It  has  been 
asked,  whether  Government,  through  the  Legisla- 
ture, will  not  interfere  to  compel  railway  directors 
and  their  servants  to  break  the  Sabbath  by  work- 
ing thereon,  and  the  reply  from  Government  was 
such  as  to  encourage  the  inquiry.  Such  an  act 
would  indeed  be  a  novel  one.  Legislative  inter- 
ference with  the  Sabbath  may  well  be  decried,  as 
it  is  by  many,  when  it  is  capable  of  enacting  such 
a  public  sin.  How  just,  indeed,  is  the  observation 
of  our  author,  cited  above,  that  "  the  temporal  ad- 
vantages of  the  Sabbath  would  not  long  protect 
it  from  destruction  by  the  grasping  ambition  of 
worldly  men,"  and  that  the  true  safeguard  and 
protection  of  the  day  of  rest  for  the  working  men, 
are  "its  divine  origin  and  appointment."  But 
should  Parliament  have  the  hardihood  to  enact 
such  an  offence  as  this  against  the  law  of  God, 
and  to  compel  work — that  is,  sin — to  be  done  upon 
the  Lord's  day,  and  that,  too,  by  those  whose  con- 
sciences resist  the  unjust  aggression  and  the  worldly 
tyranny,  let  not  the  nation  be  surprised  if,  in  the 
next  revolutions  that  sweep  over  Europe,  Britain 
be  involved  in  the  storm,  and  the  God  of  Heaven 


INTRODUCTION.  IX 

compel  the  land  to  keep  the  Sabbath,  as  he  did  Is- 
rael of  old,  by  layhig  waste  its  fields  and  depopu- 
lating its  cities. 

We  have  now  to  present  the  reader  with  a 
sketch  of  the  life  of  our  author,  which  he  has 
kindly  drawn  up  for  the  purpose,  and  which  will 
be  found  practically  useful  and  edifying  to  all,  but 
especially  to  those  who,  like  himself,  have  been 
born  under,  and  have  to  struggle  with,  difficulties, 
but  have,  by  the  providence  and  grace  of  God, 
been  enabled  to  overcome  them. 

In  concluding  this  Introduction,  and  commending 
the  Essay  that  follows  it  to  the  reader^s  kind  and 
forbearing  criticism,  we  cannot  do  so  without  ten- 
dering our  thanks  to  one  of  our  associated  honor- 
ary editors,  Dr.  Candlish,  for  having  obtained  for 
us,  from  Mr.  Lewis,  his  own  testimony  to  our  au- 
thor, and  the  sketch  of  his  life  given  above,  and  at 
the  same  time  expressing  our  regret  that  he  was 
not  himself  able,  amid  his  many  pastoral  and  other 
duties,  to  have  prefaced  this  Essay  by  a  few  re- 
marks upon  the  subject  and  the  movement,  such  as 
he  is  every  way  fitted  to  have  offered. 

J.  JORDAN. 

Enstoue  Green,  February,  1849. 


SKETCH  OF  THE  AUTHOR'S  LIFE. 


Having  been  requested  to  draw  up  a  short  account 
of  myself,  without  further  preface  I  proceed  to 
narrate  a  few  things  iUustrative  of  my  past  and 
present  mode  of  hfe.  My  father  died  when  I  was 
four  years  of  age,  and  about  two  years  after  my  mo- 
ther sent  me  to  the  parish  school  of  Brechin,  where 
I  enjoyed  the  uninterrupted  instruction  of  one  of 
the  ablest  and  most  painstaking  teachers  in  Scot- 
land, until  I  reached  the  age  of  eleven.  Shortly 
after  leaving  school  I  went  to  the  country  to  learn 
the  trade  by  which  I  now  earn  a  livelihood. 

For  a  period  of  six  years,  the  only  companions 
I  could  possibly  associate  with  were  almost  desti- 
tute of  the  mere  rudiments  of  education,  and  alto- 
gether ignorant  of  the  principles  that  ought  to 
regulate  the  conduct.  The  admonitions,  teachings, 
and  example  of  my  own  parental  roof,  united  with 
the  lessons  received  and  principles  imbibed  by  re- 
gular attendance  at  church,  on  each  recurring  Sab- 

M  jd 


Xll  SKETCHOFTHE 

bath,  were  powerful  antidotes  to  the  poisonous  in- 
fluences of  my  daily  companions.  The  foundation 
of  the  tastes  and  habits  which  now  furnish  me 
with  enjoyments  of  an  elevating  and  cheering  ten- 
dency, were  laid  at  this  early  period,  notwithstand- 
ing all  the  disadvantages  under  which  I  laboured. 
While  an  apprentice  I  had  but  few  facilities  or  op- 
portunities for  self-education,  in  consequence  of  la- 
bouring, on  an  average,  thirteen  hours  each  day, 
and  living  in  the  country,  at  a  considerable  distance 
from  the  evening-school,  the  public  lecture-room, 
and  the  circulating  library.  The  few  books  with- 
in my  reach  were,  happily,  of  the  best  description, 
and  by  repeated  perusal  they  were  almost  com- 
mitted to  memory.  I  had  in  my  possession  soli- 
tude's best  companion — the  book  of  books,  God's 
written  revelation  to  man — the  Bible ;  and  it  fur- 
nished me  with  matter  for  inexhaustible  gratitude, 
thought,  and  reflection.  The  face  of  external  na- 
ture in  the  vicinity  of  my  abode  was  varied  and 
beautiful,  in  some  places  approaching  the  romantic 
and  sublime,  and  in  all  well  calculated  to  lead  my 
mind  early  to  venerate  the  great  Architect  who  had 
designed  and  executed  a  work  so  replete  with  evi- 
dence of  his  infinite  wisdom  and  love.  Such  is 
the  brief  outline  of  my  early  history. 

Circumstances,  which  I  need  not  here  relate,  led 
me  to  the  large  town  where  I  now  reside ;  and  al- 
though memory  still  revives  and  luxuriates  among 
the  associations  of  early  days,  yet  the  separation 


S     LIFE.  XIU 

from  the  locality  of  my  youth  has  increased  my 
happiness,  by  bringing  me  into  contact  with  facili- 
ties and  opportunities  for  improvement  which  in 
the  country  I  did  not  or  could  not  enjoy.  During 
the  first  two  years  of  my  residence  in  Dundee  I 
cultivated  the  acquaintance  of  no  one,  and  when  I 
did  at  any  time  mingle  in  the  pleasures  and  pur- 
suits of  most  around  me,  I  was  generally  betrayed 
into  follies  which  I  now  bitterly  regret.  •  As  an 
example  to  others  situated  similarly  to  myself,  it 
may  not  be  foreign  to  the  purpose  of  this  sketch 
to  enumerate  the  following  rules,  which,  from  ex- 
perience, I  deem  invaluable : — Strive  to  associate 
with  men  superior  to  yourself.  Never  become  fa- 
miliar with  any  one  before  you  have  learned  his 
character  and  principles.  Shun  the  acquaintance 
of  those  who  are  anxious  to  appear  your  friends. 
Look  up  to  the  men  who  are  unpretending  and  re- 
served in  their  deportment ;  such  men  are,  with 
few  exceptions,  the  salt  of  the  earth — the  safe 
guides  through  the  complex  allurements  and  de- 
ceits of  selfishness  and  sin. 

To  return.  My  leisure  time,  during  the  period 
just  mentioned,  was  chiefly  devoted  to  the  reading 
of  books,  which,  while  they  amused,  at  the  same 
time  improved,  my  mind.  By  adopting  this  course, 
I  was  saved  from  the  temptations  to  which  but  too 
many  of  my  class  become  willing  and  early  vic- 
tims. While  engaged  in  improving  my  mind  an 
incident  (too  trivial  for  narration)  occurred  which 


XIV  SKETCH     OF     THE 

brought  me  into  contact  with  one  about  my  own 
age,  who  gave  me  an  invitatien  to  attend  a  mutual 
improvement  society,  of  which  he  was  a  member. 
Accepting  the  invitation,  I  for  some  time  attended 
the  weekly  meetings  of  this  society,  and  very  soon 
became  an  enrolled  member.  The  mode  in  which 
our  improvement  was  conducted  acted  as  a  power- 
ful stimulant  in  inducing  a  habit  of  thinking  and 
reflecting  on  subjects  sometimes  of  great  import- 
ance. To  excel  in  the  written  essay,  the  extem- 
pore discussion,  or  the  conversational  dialogue,  we 
were  under  the  happy  necessity  of  supplying  our 
minds  with  the  materials  of  knowledge  from  the 
writings  of  eminent  authors,  and  from  our  obser- 
vation of  the  habits  and  characters  of  those  around 
us.  Many  a  happy  night  we  spent  in  subscribing 
our  individual  quota  of  knowledge  for  the  benefit 
of  the  whole,  and  although  Providence  has  now 
separated  most  of  us,  a  deep  and  lasting  friendship 
still  unites  us  all. 

As  a  proof  of  the  beneficial  result  of  such  unions 
for  improvement,  I  may  simply  record  that  three 
of  our  number  composed  essays  on  the  Sabbath  for 
competition,  and  three  of  us  have  been  adjudged 
successful.  The  channels  through  which  we  re- 
ceived our  Sabbath  principles  may  be  different  in 
appearance,  but  they  are  the  same  in  reality.  We 
have  spoken  of  the  advantages  of  the  Sabbath  be- 
cause we  have  felt  and  appreciated  them.  Through 
the  medium  of  the  Sabbath  my  mind  has  been 


LIFE.  XV 

supplied  with  principles  that  enable  me  to  triumph 
over  difficulties,  and  avoid,  or  overcome,  the  temp- 
tations to  which  I  am  exposed.  By  it  I  became  a 
pupil  of  a  Bible  instruction  class,  taught  by  a  zeal- 
ous minister,  and  ultimately  the  teacher  of  a  Sab- 
bath-school under  his  care.  The  kind  notice  he 
took  of  the  first  production  of  my  pen  has  inspired 
me  with  courage  to  write  and  speak  my  sentiments, 
and  to  embrace  every  opportunity  for  farther  im- 
provement. I  am  now  a  husband  and  a  parent. 
My  home  is  an  asylum  where  peace  and  comfort 
reside.  The  self-denial  and  habits  induced  by  the 
modes  'of  improvement  I  have  described  are,  under 
God,  the  procuring  causes  of  all  my  enjoyments. 
Better  society  than  that  of  my  own  family  and 
good  books  I  desire  not ;  while  the  Sabbath,  as  it 
returns,  imparts  a  new  relish  for  all,  and  strength- 
ens the  hopes  of  that  eternal  "  rest  prepared  for 
the  people  of  God.''  * 

DAVID  FARQUHAR. 


M2 


THE   TORCH   OF    TIME 


HE  spirit  of  our  age  is  not  con- 
servative. The  veneration  for 
ancient  or  existing  institutions  has  been  superseded 
by  a  thirst  for  innovation  and  change,  which,  though 
laudable  enough  in  many  instances,  has  in  others 
been  carried  to  such  an  extent  as  is  neither  war- 
ranted by  expediency  nor  philanthropy.  When 
we  look  around  us  and  see  the  many  evils  existing 
in  human  institutions,  we  cannot  evade  the  con- 
clusion that  there  is  stiU  much  room  left  for 
reform;  nay,  we  are  convinced  that  the  ener- 
gies of  philanthropists,  though  increased  a  thou- 
sand fold,  will  only  be  able  to  remove  but  a  few 
of   the    evils    with   which   we    are    surrounded. 


2* 


THE      TORCH      OF      TIME 


Toil  and  misery  are  conditions  which  an  inscrutable 
Providence  has  imposed  on  human  existence,  as  a 
retribution  for  man's  sin  and  guilt ;  and  however 
much  good  and  pious  men  may  aid  in  smoothing 
the  asperities  of  these  conditions,  yet  still  they  are 
powerless  for  their  entire  removal.  Among  the 
innovators  of  our  own  day,  we  can  point  to  many, 
who,  animated  by  a  spirit  of  pure  philanthropy, 
are  labouring  with  devoted  energy  and  zeal  in 
assailing  the  formidable  barriers  that  are  opposed 
to  human  improvement,  and  counteracting  the 
pernicious  influences  of  institutions  which,  from 
their  antiquity,  and  congeniality  with  the  depraved 
desires  of  human  nature,  have  too  long,  and  too 
widely,  extended  their  malignant  oppressions  over 
their  unconscious  devotees.  On  the  other  hand,  we 
discover  a  class  of  men,  who,  with  an  energy  and 
zeal  not  less  devoted,  enshrouding  themselves  in 
the  garb  of  philanthropy,  not  content  with  remodel- 
ing the  institutions  of  man's  construction,  have,  in 
their  vain  imaginings,  thought  fit  to  attempt  the 
destruction  of  the  Sabbath ;  an  institution  which 
the  Author  of  the  universe  has  founded  to  promote 
the  temporal  and  eternal  well-being  of  mankind. 
Unhallowed  and  insane  conceit!  Shall  man,  a 
worm  of  the  dust,  dare  to  dictate  to  his  Creator! 
All  the  institutions  of  man's  construction  are  preg- 
nant with  error,  and  shall  he,  in  his  thirst  for 
change,  venture  to  alter  those  of  the  Almighty? 
To  innovate  here,  is  not  to  reform,  but  to  destroy. 


THE      TORCH      OF      TIME. 


*'  God's  law  is  perfect,  and  converts 
The  soul  in  sin  that  lies ; 
His  testimonies  are  most  sure, 
And  make  the  simple  wise." 

Among  the  class  of  Sabbath  assailants  there  are 
some,  who,  denymg  the  universal  and  permanent 
obligation  of  the  fourth  commandment,  readily 
admit  its  importance  as  an  ecclesiastical  appoint- 
ment, in  spreading  religious  light  and  truth.  With 
these  it  is  not  our  province  to  treat ;  but  there  are 
others  whom,  by  way  of  introduction  to  our  subject, 
we  shall  unmask.  They  are  those  who,  possessing 
little  or  no  sympathy  for  the  Sabbath,  have  kindled 
the  fires  of  controversy,  in  the  hope  that  when  the 
public  mind  reaches  its  climax  of  excitement,  it 
will  be  glad  to  receive  any  thing  that  promises 
repose.  Imagining  that  the  opportunity  has  ar- 
rived, they  have  already  proffered  their  sentimental 
sophistries,  arrayed  in  the  inviting  robe  of  philan- 
thropy. Let  us  not,  say  they,  on  the  one  hand, 
destroy  the  Sabbath,  but  let  us  relieve  it  from  the 
rigid  observance  into  which  it  has  fallen;  let  us 
spend  a  portion  of  this  day  in  bodily  recreation, 
and  worship  God  through  the  medium  of  external 
nature.  Working  people  confined  in  crowded 
workships  and  factories,  for  six  successive  days, 
breathe  an  unwholesome  and  impure  atmosphere  ; 
they  have  much  need  of  pure  air  on  the  Sabbath. 
Let  us  open  our  railways  and  other  conveyances, 
to  carry  them  to .  those  places  where  the  filth  of 


THE      TORCH      OF      TIME. 


their  every-day  dwellings  mingles  not  with  the 
scene ;  where  the  temptations  to  evil  are  not  so 
numerous  as  at  home  ;  where  (instead  of  the  oaths 
and  imprecations  that  assail  the  ear  in  passing 
through  the  streets  of  large  towns)  the  little  bird 
vociferates  its  innocent  notes,  and  causes  the  sur- 
rounding neighbourhood  to  re-echo  with  its  cheer- 
ful song ;  where,  instead  of  those  sights  of  squalid 
misery  and  rags  which  meet  the  eye,  and  sadden 
the  heart.  Nature  is  seen  rejoicing  in  the  simple,  yet 
lovely  apparel  in  which  she  is  adorned ;  where, 
instead  of  the  dram-shop  and  its  concomitant  evils, 
Nature  discloses  her  water-springs,  and  affords 
refreshment  of  such  invigorating  influence,  that 
people  may  well  pause  to  ask  themselves  the 
question.  Why  do  we  taste  intoxicating  liquors? 
Surely,  say  these  patriots,  this  is  a  good  way, 
especially  for  working  people,  to  spend  a  portion 
of  their  Sabbaths ;  there  can  be  no  harm  in  all  this. 
Has  not  the  material  creation  a  tendency  to  lead 
the  human  mind  by  innumerable  avenues  up  to  the 
God  of  Creation?  Does  it  not,  mountain  and  plain, 
with  their  ever-varying  accompaniments,  inspire 
grandeur  of  thought,  and  gratitude  of  heart  ?  That 
simple  and  insignificant  thing  we  call  an  ear  of 
corn,  thrown  with  seeming  carelessness  into  the 
field,  developes  in  its  growth  the  wisdom  and  love 
of  the  Almighty.  In  fi.ne,  all  Nature  through  her 
myriad  voices  proclaims  the  Author  of  our  exist- 
ence a  Being  of  infinite  power,  wisdom,  and  love. 


THE      TORCH      OF      TIME 


Now  all  this,  we  admit,  sounds  well ;  but  when 
we  come  to  examine  how  far  it  accords  with  man 
in  his  present  condition,  we  discover  from  his 
known  habits,  that  he  does  not  retire  to  "green 
fields  and  flowery  meadows,"  to  be  instructed  in 
the  wisdom  of  his  Creator.  When  we  reflect  how 
tenaciously  man  clings  to  his  vices,  we  have  no 
reason  for  concluding  that  his  Sabbath  rambles  will 
be  consecrated  to  pure  devotion.  Were  a  railway 
constructed  through  the  most  secluded  part  of  our 
land,  and  were  a  Sabbath  morning-train  to  pass 
along  that  line,  with  hosts  of  passengers  from  our 
crowded  towns,  just  as  certainly  as  these  carry 
their  vices  and  passions  along  with  them,  so  cer- 
tainly would  worldly-minded  men,  for  the  sake  of 
filthy  lucre,  extend  the  dram-shop  to  every  place 
resorted  to  on  such  occasions ;  and  where  mankind 
assemble  for  pleasure  on  the  Sabbath,  there  is 
drunkenness  and  debauchery. 

However  much  unsound  philanthropy  may  prate 
about  the  purifying  tendency  of  a  walk,  or  ride  into 
the  country  on  the  Sabbath,  experience  teaches  us 
that  people  usually  go  there  for  a  wider  license  to 
the  follies  and  vices  they  dare  not  practise  in  towns 
on  the  day  of  sacred  rest. 

How  few,  even  among  the  more  cultivated  and 
enlightened,  comprehend  the  divine  harmonies  of 
the  material  world.  And  while  it  would  be  cruel 
to  debar  the  labouring  class  from  the  contemplation 
of  external  nature,  yet  their  education  is  not  such 


THE      TORCH      OF      TIME. 


as  warrants  any  sound  philanthropist  or  Christian 
to  induce  or  to  afford  them  an  opportunity  of 
spending  their  Sabbaths  in  the  way  that  has  been 
described.  To  the  untutored  mind,  external  nature 
is  only  a  beautiful  picture  which  dazzles  the  eye, 
but  reforms  not  the  heart.  It  is  in  another  book, 
that  God  has  revealed  himself  to  the  simplest 
understanding,  where  he  who  runneth  may  read, 
that  our  Heavenly  Father  not  only  created  the 
heavens  above,  the  earth  beneath,  and  all  that  in 
them  is,  but  that  He  is  the  Author  of  another  and 
greater  work ;  a  work  which  transcends  in  wisdom 
and  love  all  his  other  works,  even  as  the  glorious 
orb  of  day  transcends  the  lesser  luminaries  of  night; 
a  work  which  Nature  is  unable  to  reveal,  even 
supposing  our  intellectual  faculties  cultivated  to  the 
highest  degree  of  perfection  ;  a  work  that  leads  the 
views  of  the  humble  beyond  the  cares  and  vicissi- 
tudes of  this  sublunary  world,  to  that  better  and 
lasting  abode,  where  toil,  trouble,  sin,  and  death, 
are  for  ever  banished ;  a  work  which  reveals  God 
reconciling  a  guilty  world  to  Himself  by  the  death 
of  his  only  Son  :  and  blessed  be  his  holy  name,  for 
having  given  us,  as  an  earnest  of  the  blessings 
secured  by  this  work,  one  day  in  seven,  to  be  a  day 
of  holiness  unto  himself ! 

It  is  from  the  sanctification  of  the  Sabbath  that 
all  its  temporal  advantages  flow.  If  it  were  merely 
a  day  of  rest,  what  security  is  there  in  human 
nature  to  prevent  it  from  being  a  day  of  toil  more 


THE      TORCH      OF      TIME, 


detrimental  to  man's  physical,  intellectual,  and 
moral  well-being,  than  that  incident  to  common 
day  employments  ?  Remove  this  benign  obligation, 
and  then  man  is  left  to  be  guided  by  the  impulses 
of  his  own  depraved  appetites,  to  follow  the  counsel 
of  his  own  deceitful  heart :  in  short,  remove  this 
obligation,  and  the  Sabbath  is  not  only  defaced,  but 
obliterated. 

Among  the  Sabbath  innovators  with  whom  we 
are  now  dealing,  nothing  is  so  remarkable  as  their 
professed  commiseration  for  the  labouring  classes, 
but  an  examination  of  this,  their  pretended  philan- 
thropy, clearly  shows  that  it  is  only  speculative 
after  all.  Looking  beyond  the  proposed  bonus,  to 
the  means  by  which  it  is  conferred,  we  discover  a 
portion  of  our  class  doomed  to  continual  drudgery, 
in  administering  to  the  pleasures  of  others.  The 
very  fact  of  their  labouring  on  the  Sabbath  implies 
that  all  have  given  up  their  right  to  be  exempt  from 
toil  on  that  day.  Liberty  is  therefore  sacrificed  to 
the  god  of  pleasure,  and  experience  teaches  that 
the  evils  attending  one  class  of  our  neighbours 
soon  extend  to  all.  Let  us,  who  are  working  men, 
and  who  profess  to  know  something  of  our  rights 
171,  and  duties  on,  the  Sabbath,  inform  the  patriots 
of  our  day  that  our  condition  is  not  to  be  improved 
by  any  innovation  of  its  sacred  injunctions.  We 
are  not  to  sell  our  sacred  birthright  for  a  "  mess  of 
pottage,"  because  we  believe  all  the  best  privileges 
we  enjoy,  all  the  fond  remembrances  we  cherish, 


N 


8  THE      TORCH      OF      TIME. 

all  the  bright  prospects  of  the  future,  centre  in  ob- 
serving the  Sabbath  as  a  day  of  holiness  unto  the 
Lord.  Let  us,  animated  by  these  reminiscences, 
supported  by  present  privileges,  and  cheered  by 
future  prospects,  proceed  to  unfold  "the  temporal 
advantages  of  the  Sabbath  to  the  labouring  classes, 
and  the  consequent  importance  of  preserving  its 
rest  from  all  the  encroachments  of  unnecessary 
Icibour." 


I.    THE    SABBATH   IS  A  GREAT   TEMPORAL   BLESSING, 
VIEWED    SIMPLY   AS   A   DAY   OF   REST. 


The  occupations  of  the  labouring  classes  subject 
them  (even  in  this  age  of  science  and  mechanical 
invention)  to  such  an  amount  of  bodily  exertion, 
or  animal  activity,  as  is  incompatible  with  a  life  of 
continuous  labour.  The  rest  of  one  day  in  seven 
is  just  as  essential  in  preserving  the  physical  con- 
stitution from  sinking  under  the  pressure  of  labour, 
as  are  the  periodic  hours  of  sleep.  Nature  de- 
mands relaxation  with  as  irresistible  a  craving  as 
she  does  repose.  Where  labour  is  carried  on  with- 
out intermission,  the  body  prematurely  droops  and 
dies.  Should  the  attempt  be  made  to  defeat  God's 
purposes  in  the  constitution  of  our  nature,  the  con- 
sequences are  sure  and  certain.  Neither  muscular 
energy,  nor   (that   other  element   essential  to  the 


THE      TORCH      OP      TIME 


productiveness  of  labour)  animal  spirit,  is  indefi- 
nitely elastic.     Extend  them  but  a  short  way  be- 
yond their  natural  susceptibility,  and  the  vital  cord 
is  destroyed.     Rebellion  against  God's  laws  in  the 
natural  world  is  as  sure  of  punishment  as  rebellion 
against  his  moral  statutes,  with  this  difference,  that 
the  punishment  of  the  one  is  in  time,  the  other 
chiefly  reserved  for  eternity.     In  our  country  com- 
petition has  taxed  the  energies  of  the  labouring 
classes  to  a  most  unreasonable  extent.     Already 
they  are  sinking  under  the  baneful  effects  of  a  sys- 
tem which  exposes  them  to  labour  ten,  twelve,  or 
fourteen  hours  each  day,  for  six  successive  ones. 
During  the  whole  of  this  time  animal  activity,  or 
muscular  exertion,  is  doing  its  utmost.    The  stoop- 
ing and  sedentary  position  of  some,  the  close  con- 
finement of  many,  the  noxious  dusts  and  gases  in- 
haled by  others,  and  too  much  physical  exertion 
consequent  on  numbers,  all  tend,  if  not  to  destroy 
life,  at  least  to  undermine  health,  and  render  them 
an  easy  prey  to  those  diseases  which  an  inscrutable 
Providence  sends  as   awful  monitors  to  awaken 
mankind  to  a  sense  of  their  duties.     Look  at  their 
mortality  bills.     Behold  their  sickly  countenances. 
Follow  them  to  the  place  of  toil,  and  observe  them 
pouring  forth  the  sap  of  their  bodies,  in  all  the  in- 
clemencies of  weather,  or  plying  their  operations 
with  greater  dexterity  than  even  the  term  competi- 
tion implies,  in  producing  comforts  (or  the  means 
of  such)  which  they  niggardly  enjoy,  and,  surely, 


10  THE      TORCH      OP      TIME. 

no  one  will  deny  that  the  rest  of  the  Sabbath  is  a 
great  temporal  blessing.  It  answers  the  demands 
of  Nature  for  relaxation ;  it  prolongs  the  labourer's 
health  by  removing  him  from  those  influences 
which  destroy  it;  "it  is  the  short-time  bill/'  and 
universal  medicine  of  God  for  the  evils  incident  on 
toil. 


II.  THE  SABBATH  IS  A  GREAT  TEMPORAL  BLESSING, 
AS  ITS  PERIODIC  RETURN  LIGHTENS  THE  BURDEN 
OF   PRESENT   TOIL. 

Few  of  the  labouring  class  work  less  than  ten 
hours  a  day,  many  of  them  more.  They  are 
watched  by  overseers  who  exact,  with  scrupulous 
nicety,  as  much  work  as  the  labourer  caii  perform. 
These  overlookers  are  either  men  appointed  for 
that  purpose,  or  they  are  the  amount  of  money 
which  labour  yields.  Under  such  surveillance, 
although  the  labourer's  strength  and  spirit  are 
well-nigh  exhausted,  yet  he  must  not  fall  short  of 
the  prescribed  quantity.  To  revive  his  industry 
sleep  indeed  promises  a  temporary  relief,  but  then 
the  thought  recurs,  that  with  to-morrow's  dawn 
return  the  same  toils  and  troubles,  and  so  on  from 
day  to  day.  Where,  then,  shall  he  find  more  posi- 
tive periods  of  rest  than  those  hours  spent  in  un- 
conscious slumbers  ?     From  what  fountain  of  hope 


THE      TORCH      OP      TIME.  11 

shall  he  drink  to  revive  his  drooping  energies  ? 
From  whence  shall  he  be  stimulated  with  spirit  to 
overcome  the  dreary  wearisomeness  of  his  occupa- 
tion ?     Is  there  nothing  more  congenial  to  the  re- 
vival of  his  patience  and  perseverance  than  the 
angry  look  of  his  calculating  master  ?     That  look 
contains  in  it  a  meaning  too  palpable  to  be  mis- 
imderstood ;  it  is  the  index  of  terror ;  it  palls  both 
body  and  mind ;  it  awakens  thoughts  too  gloomy 
to  be  portrayed ;  it  intimates,  that  if  the  labourer 
does  not  perform  the  required  quantity  of  work  in 
the  given  time,  his  wages  will  be  reduced ;  or,  as 
a  solace  to  his  troubles,  his  services  will  be  no 
longer  required.     This  intimation  is  full  of  import 
to  the  labouring  classes.     It  points  to  heart-rending 
scenes  of  poverty.     It  paints  the  fearful  prospect 
of  children  and  wife,  father  and  mother,  famishmg 
for  lack  of  bread.     Alas !  that  competition  should 
smother  the  finer  sympathies  of  man;  that  love 
should  give  place  to  neglect ;    commiseration  to 
worldly  ambition ;  or  that  the  labourer  should  be 
threatened  when  he  requires  to  be  consoled     A 
wide   breach   has    been   effected   in   the   relation 
between  master  and  servant ;  they  stand  as  sepa- 
rate elements  in  the  civic  state.     There  is  no  reci- 
procity of  interests.     Each  clings  as  tenaciously  to 
his  own,  as  doth  the  miser  to  his  pelf.     The  Avork- 
ing  classes,  having  fewest  advantages,  suffer  most 
from  the  evils  arising  out  of  this  principle  of  mutual 
selfishness.     Although  this  unhappy  state  of  things 


N3 


12  THE      TORCH      OF      TIME. 

has  been  produced,  partly  by  the  working  classes, 
masters  have  likewise  fostered  and  cherished  it,  and 
now,  that  they  have  the  advantage,  they  ought  not 
to  wield  it  as  an  instrument  of  oppression.  Let 
them  turn  away  their  threatening  countenances, 
for  they  but  make  the  breach  wider  and  wider. 
They  do  not  prick  the  labourer  to  renewed  activity. 
They  paralyze,  but  do  not  propel,  his  industry. 
There  are  wells  on  the  great  road  of  time,  the 
prospect  and  certainty  of  which  encourage  the 
traveller  to  surmount  the  difficulties  of  his  journey; 
there  is  a  fountain  of  hope  from  which  the  labourer 
drinks  to  slake  his  thirst ;  there  is  a  resting-place, 
the  prospect  of  which  imparts  strength  to  his 
muscles,  buoyancy  to  his  spirits,  enabling  him  to 
triumph  over  present  fatigue,  to  conquer  present 
obstacles,  and  to  rise  superior  to  assailing  emer- 
gencies : — it  is  the  Sabbath,  looming  out  at  the  end 
of  six  days,  and  beckoning  the  labourer  to  repose 
the  burden  of  his  toils  upon  it. 

Were  the  prospect  of  the  Sabbath  removed  from 
the  labouring  classes,  then  what  is  there  in  toil  to 
render  it  agreeable?  Already  they  are  groaning 
under  its  burden,  and  suffer  and  die  by  its  severity. 
Take  away  from  them  their  seventh  day  of  rest, 
and  their  condition  is  worse  than  that  of  the  brutes 
which  perish.  The  lower  animals  are  sometimes 
necessitated  to  extra  exertion  in  procuring  gratifi- 
cation to  their  instincts.  This  to  them  is  a  sufficient 
motive  for  encountering  the  pains  and  perils  to 


THE      TORCH      OP      TIME.  13 

which  they  are  seldom,  however,  exposed.  They 
know  no  other  enjoyments — they  are  content  and 
happy  in  following  the  impulses  of  their  natures. 
Man,  too,  like  the  inferior  animals,  has  instincts 
which  compel  him  to  put  forth  physical  energies  to 
supply  the  wants  of  his  animal  existence  ;  and  he, 
too,  like  them,  would  doubtless  encounter  and  rise 
superior  to  the  obstacles  that  stand  between  him 
and  the  objects  of  his  desire.  But  if  his  instincts 
constituted  the  only  motives  for  exertion,  we  should 
soon  see  him  bereft  of  those  refined  enjoyments  that 
mark  the  distinction  between  savage  and  civilized 
life.  He,  vmlike  the  inferior  animals,  possesses  an 
intellectual,  moral,  and  spiritual  nature,  and,  in 
order  to  nerve  him  to  continued  industry,  these,  his 
highest  attributes,  must  be  animated  with  hopes, 
fears,  and  enjoyments  kindred  to  their  true  dignity; 
these  alone  are  the  sure  springs  of  vigorous  and 
successful  exertion. 

Remove  from  the  labouring  classes  the  Sabbath, 
and  the  innumerable  lofty  enjoyments  associated 
with  it,  and  you  consign  them  to  a  life  of  irksome 
hardship,  in  which  the  true  motives  of  action  be- 
come stunted,  and  ultimately  destroyed.  Man 
labours  not  for  the  mere  love  of  labour,  but  for  the 
enjoyments  which  it  produces  ;  and,  in  proportion 
as  his  desires  are  elevated  and  expanded,  so  are  his 
patience  and  industry  to  provide  the  means  of 
gratification.  Moreover,  in  proportion  as  his 
opportunity  for  the  promotion  of  this  elevation  and 


3* 


14  THE      TORCH      OP      TIME. 

expansion  is  extended  or  curtailed,  so  likewise  is 
his  improvement.  The  conclusion,  then,  is  obvious 
and  self-evident,  that  if  the  labouring  classes  are 
deprived  of  their  Sabbath,  they  are  denuded  of 
their  best  opportunity  for  improvement  in  the 
higher  qualities  of  their  nature.  They  are  sub- 
jected to  be  influenced  by  those  low  and  groveling 
desires  consequent  on  ignorance,  and  which  their 
present  condition,  with  no  Sabbath,  would  very 
soon  engender.  Surrounded  with  temptations,  from 
idleness  and  uneasy  desires;  and  having  neither 
time,  opportunity,  nor  inclination,  for  watching  or 
cultivating  the  moral  and  intellectual  qualities  of 
themselves  or  relations,  they  would  soon  begin  to 
think,  that,  if  they  supplied  the  common  necessaries 
of  life,  all  their  duties  had  been  accomplished. 
When  the  mind  and  soul  have  thus  been  degraded 
— when  the  mere  impulse  of  animal  gratification 
has  to  contend  with  the  irresistible  demands  of 
nature  for  relaxation,  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that 
the  labouring  classes  will  remain  proof  against  the 
temptations  to  which  they  are  exposed.  If  they 
struggle  through  present  conflict,  it  will  be  in  order 
to  procure  the  means  of  self-indulgence  in  intemper- 
ance and  sensuality  :  which  growing  upon  them, 
labour  will  become  irksome,  they  will  commit  slight 
transgressions  to  procure  the  means  of  debauchery ; 
and  ultimately,  becoming  hardened  in  iniquity,  will 
not  shrink  from  committing  the  most  atrocious 
crimes. 


THE      TORCH      OP      TIME.  15 

The  labouring  classes  are  often  taunted  for  their 
improvidence  and  intemperance,  We  do  not  deny 
the  truth  of  this  reproach.  These  vices  are  too 
plainly  developed,  and  their  consequences  too 
destructive  to  be  defended.  Yet,  while  we  offer 
no  palliation  for  the  faults  of  our  companions  in 
toil,  we  may  be  permitted  to  observe,  that  temper- 
ance, prudence,  and  forethought,  are  virtues  not 
easily  exercised  amid  the  temptations  with  which 
they  are  surrounded.  Working  from  morning  to 
night,  and,  at  best,  earning  little  more  than  pro- 
vides the  common  necessaries  of  Ufe,  in  many  cases 
barely  that ;  sent  to  the  field,  the  workshop,  or  the 
factory,  in  the  spring  of  existence,  living  merely 
for  labour — their  strength  is  prematurely  enfeebled  ; 
their  education  finished  about  the  time  it  should 
have  commenced — often  entirely  neglected ;  sur- 
rounded by  the  evil  that  is  in  the  world — their  own 
hearts  deceitful  above  all  things  and  desperately 
wicked  ;  congregated  in  masses,  at  the  time  when 
the  power  of  example  is  most  impressive,  can  it 
be  wondered  at  that  many  of  them  have  fallen  vic- 
tims to  their  own  depraved  passions  and  desires  ? 
Or  is  it  to  be  expected,  after  depriving  them  of  the 
Sabbath,  that  their  condition  should  be  calculated 
to  generate  those  virtues  which  they  are  especially 
taught  on  that  hallowed  day  ? 

Labouring  people  require  motives  of  an  enno- 
bling character  to  battle  against  the  temptations  to 
which  they  are  exposed.    It  is  not  the  mere  thought 


16  THE      TORCH      OF      TIME. 

that  labour  produces  food  or  clothing  for  the  body, 
which  excites  their  industry ;  if  this  were  all,  what 
difference  is  there  between  them  and  the  savage 
who  hunts  the  wild  animal  for  its  skin  to  cover  his 
body,  or  for  its  flesh  and  blood  to  satisfy  his  hunger 
and  thirst?  Both  their  ends  and  aims  are  the 
same — yet  who  shall  compare  the  indolence  of  the 
one  with  the  industry  of  the  other  ?  This  apparent 
anomaly  can  only  be  explained  by  admitting  to 
the  one  motives  emanating  from  enjoyments  of  a 
more  ennobling  character  than  those  which  originate 
in  the  gratification  of  mere  animal  desire.  If  the 
case  were  otherwise,  does  any  one  imagine  that 
the  labouring  classes  would  worm  through  all  the 
intricacies  of  toil,  from  day  to  day,  with  such  spirit 
and  success,  but  for  the  hope  that  at  the  end  of 
every  six  days  they  have  one  of  rest,  holding  in  its 
munificent  grasp  all  those  heartfelt  delights  which 
not  only  blend  themselves  together  with  all  that  is 
lovely,  amiable,  and  virtuous,  in  this  terrestrial 
scene,  but  those  still  higher  enjoyments  that  connect 
them  with  eternity  through  the  blood  of  a  Divine 
Redeemer.  Preserve,  then,  the  Sabbath  to  the  la- 
bouring classes,  the  prospect  of  whose  periodic  re- 
turn inspires  them  with  strength  and  spirit  to  prose- 
cute successfully  their  common-day  labours,  and 
whose  salutary  delights  prevent  them  from  becom- 
ing all  victims  to  the  temptations  to  which  they 
are  exposed. 


THE      TORCH      OF      TIME.  17 


AS  IT  IS  THE  BEST  OPPORTUNITY  FOR  CULTIVATING 
FAMILY  AFFECTION  AND  DOMESTIC  ORDER,  FELLOW- 
SHIP, AND  CLEANLINESS. 

In  human  arrangements  there  is  nothing  so 
agreeable  as  a  well-ordered  family  circle.  The 
communion  of  affection  that  obtains  in  the  family 
relation  is  the  most  attractive  feature  which  the 
picture  of  human  society  presents.  This  holy  in- 
terchange of  feeling  and  sympathy  pervades  all 
ranks  and  classes  of  the  community.  It  exists  in 
as  great  perfection  in  the  humblest  cottage  as  it 
does  in  the  palaces  of  the  great.  It  proceeds  from 
the  wisest  and  best  instincts  of  our  nature.  God 
has  chosen  this  relation  in  revealing  his  love  for 
fallen  man;  he  adopts  the  language  of  a  kind 
parent  in  appointing  the  institution  for  whose  be- 
nefits we  are  now  contending :  "  Remember  the 
Sabbath-day  to  keep  it  holy/'  bespeaks  the  solici- 
tude and  love  of  a  fond  parent,  to  impress  his  chil- 
dren with  something  essential  to  their  well-being. 
The  family  relation,  however,  if  exposed  to  neglect, 
will  breed  consequences  the  most  dissonant  and 
disastrous.  Our  prison  and  police  statistics,  our 
pauper  rolls,  teem  with  facts  which  demonstrate 
that  family  or  natural  affection,  if  not  carefully 
watched,  becomes  the  hot-bed  of  every  vice  and 
crime. 


18  THE      TORCH      OF      TIME.     , 

How,  then,  are  the  labouring  classes  situated,  on 
common  days,  for  cultivating  and  nourishing  this 
relation?  They  are  very  much  dissevered  by  the 
diversified  nature  and  length  of  their  employments. 
Rarely  does  it  happen  that  the  members  of  one 
family  labour  in  the  same  place,  or  at  the  same 
occupation.  Some  are  labouring  at  such  a  distance 
as  prevents  them  from  being  at  home  on  any  day 
(unless  casually)  except  the  Sabbath.  Others, 
again,  though  not  so  dis'tant,  are  still  so  far  away 
as  to  necessitate  them  to  carry  their  food  along 
with  them  to  the  place  of  labour :  they  leave  home 
in  the  morning,  and  return  not  before  the  evening. 
Those,  again,  who  work  contiguous  to  their  dwell- 
ings, have  only  time  to  swallow  their  meals  hastily, 
and  return  to  their  employments.  Females  em- 
ployed in  domestic  service  rarely  have  time  to  visit 
home  except  on  the  Sabbath.  Perhaps  it  may  be 
said, — Could  not  a  house  be  got  in  such  a  place  as 
would  accommodate  the  majority  of  a  family,  at 
least?  We  repiy,  in  many  cases  it  is  impracticable. 
Even  in  cases  where  such  accommodation  could  be 
effected,  the  precariousness  and  uncertainty  of 
employment  have  taught  the  provident  among  the 
labouring  classes  the  absurdity  of  exposing  their 
furniture  to  destruction  by  frequent  shiftings,  know- 
ing well,  that  such  a  locality  as  would  suit  the 
family's  convenience  this  week,  month,  or  half-year, 
would,  in  the  next  week,  mouth,  or  half-year,  dis- 
sociate them  as  wide  as  ever.     They,  therefore,  act 


THE      TORCH      OF      TIME.  19 

upon  the  adage  common  amongst  them,  "Better 
me  sit  than  me  flit."  Again,  their  hours  of  em- 
ployment are  as  varied  as  their  occupations  and 
locaUties.  One  begins  at  six  in  the  morning, 
another  at  seven,  and  others  at  eight,  nine,  or  ten  ; 
while  those  employed  in  night-work  have  a  similar 
variation.  This  diversity  in  the  time  of  com- 
mencing labour  is  not  more  common  than  the 
discordant  length  of  time  they  work.  Some  work 
ten  hours  a  day,  others  eleven  and  twelve;  civiliza- 
tion may  blush  for  what  follows — there  are  some 
labouring  fourteen  and  even  sixteen  hours  per  day ! 
Conceive  a  family  situated  in  this  dismembered 
state  for  six  successive  days,  following  severe  and 
unwholesome  occupations ;  surrounded  with  every 
temptation  to  depart  from  rectitude,  and  but  too  apt 
to  be  led  astray  by  their  own  evil  imaginations ; 
working  beside  strangers  who  neither  possess  moral 
standing  or  authority  to  give  or  enforce  sound 
advice ;  serving  masters  who  are  only  vigilant  for 
the  quantity  and  quality  of  labour,  but  who,  know- 
ing little,  care  less  for  the  character  of  the  servant 
than  they  do  for  the  machine  or  tool  with  which  he 
operates  ;  listening  to  the  obscene  and  bacchanalian 
songs  and  conversations  of  their  companions ;  se- 
duced, and  sometimes  betrayed  to  spend  a  portion 
of  their  evenings  in  the  public  house,  or  in  dens  of 
infamy  and  sin.  Conceive,  yea,  we  should  rather 
say  behold — for  this  is  no  vain  or  imaginary  pic- 
ture, but  a  truthful,  conspicuous,  and  awful  reality 


o 


20  THE      TORCH      OF      TIME. 

— behold  a  family  thus  secluded  from  the  benefits 
of  domestic  fellowship  for  six  successive  days,  en- 
tangled with  such  temptations,  and  who  dare  be  so 
unfeeling  as  to  seek  to  deny  them  the  advantages 
of  the  Sabbath  ?  Or  who,  after  it  has  been  with- 
held, wliile  reflecting  on  the  operations  of  human 
nature,  shall  defend  such  unhallowed  plunder,  or 
venture  to  predict  that  natural  aifection  might  be 
nourished  or  perpetuated  amid  such  untoward  cir- 
cumstances ? 

It  often  happens  in  families  where  this  dissocia- 
tion obtains,  that  the  father  or  head  is  the  most 
distant  from  home.  Should  his  anxiety  for  the 
welfare  of  his  family  urge  the  propriety  of  visiting 
them  about  the  middle  of  the  week,  he  performs 
the  journey  after  the  labours  of  the  day.  Under 
such  circumstances  he  can  have  little  time  to  fondle 
his  young  ones,  or  inquire  into  the  behaviour  of 
those  that  are  grown  up.  Perhaps  he  may  see 
neither;  the  first  are  in  bed,  the  second  not  re- 
turned from  labour,  or,  if  returned,  have  gone  out 
to  amuse  themselves.  His  wife  answers  his  anxious 
inquiries  while  attending  to  her  laborious  duties. 
Wearied  and  worn  out  he  retires  early  to  rest,  for 
he  must  be  up  in  the  morning  to  accomplish  his 
journey  before  the  usual  time  for  commencing 
work.  Where  shall  such  a  father  find  time  or  op- 
portunity for  cultivating  the  affections  of  his  wife 
and  children,  or  where  the  outlet  to  the  longing 
desires  of  his  own  heart  ?     When  shall  his  autho- 


THE      TORCH      OF      TI^IE.  21 

rity  be  exercised  in  enforcing,  by  precept  or  ex- 
ample, those  lessons  of  morality  and  religion  so 
essential  in  preventing  his  children  from  falling 
victims  to  the  temptations  in  which  they  are  en- 
veloped ?  If  they  are  pursuing  the  paths  of  recti- 
tude, when  shall  he  cheer  them  on  in  the  way  of 
well-doing  ?  If  they  are  following  the  ways  of 
the  evil  one,  by  intem.perance,  sensuality,  maternal 
disobedience,  quarrelling  with  one  another,  and 
other  sinful  courses,  when  shall  he  correct  them, 
or  impose  a  check  to  such  ruinous  follies  ?  Is  he 
never  to  see  the  objects  of  his  anxious  solicitude, 
except  when  suffering  from  exhaustion  of  body 
and  spirit  ?  Are  the  pains  and  hardships  to  which 
labour  exposes  him,  to  be  the  only  rewards  for  his 
industry  and  courage  ?  Is  he  never  to  realize  those 
fond  endearments  which  nestle  amid  the  hallowed 
boundaries  of  home  ?  Yes,  his  kind  Creator  has 
provided  a  seventh  day  of  rest — all  his  duties  are 
rendered  practical  by  it.  By  it  all  his  longings 
and  anxieties  are  satisfied,  for  it  adapts  itself  to  the 
whole  constitution  of  his  nature.  Its  periodic  re- 
turn destroys  the  hedges  which  society  has  per- 
mitted to  spring  up  between  husband  and  wife, 
son  and  daughter,  on  common  days.  By  this  kind 
provision  home  is  still  a  reality.  Sabbath  is  their 
home  ;  except  for  which  the  streams  of  vice  which 
flow  through  the  world  would  poison  the  springs 
of  natural  affection,  overturn  the  social  pyramid, 
and  place  it  on  its  apex  instead  of  its  base. 


22  THE      TORCH      OF      TIME. 

That  all  the  families  of  the  labouring  classes 
suffer  to  the  same  extent,  by  the  diversity  in  the 
length  and  nature  of  their  employments,  is  what 
we  do  not  mean  to  affirm ;  but  that,  to  those  who 
suffer  least,  the  Sabbath  is  essential  for  cultivating 
family  affection  and  domestic  fellowship.  The  best 
position  in  which  the  families  of  the  labouring 
classes  can  be  viewed  is,  when  the  working  mem- 
bers labour  the  same  number  of  hours,  and  com- 
mence and  close  their  avocations  at  the  same  time  ; 
for  illustration,  we  shall  suppose  six  in  the  morn- 
ing and  six  in  the  evening.  Two  hours  each  day 
being  the  most  allowed  for  meals,  it  cannot  be  sup- 
posed that,  during  these  transitory  intervals,  they 
can  have  any  time  to  indulge  in  those  kindly  feel- 
ings, to  a  profitable  extent,  which  nourish  domestic 
felicity.  The  evening  returns,  and  they  are  col- 
lected together  for  a  longer  period.  The  first  hour 
is  a  scene  of  busy  confusion — it  is  occupied  in 
taking  the  evening  meal,  and  in  removing  the  filth 
with  which  their  hands  and  faces  have  been  be- 
smeared in  prosecuting  the  labours  of  the  day. 
That  hour  having  passed  away,  order  is  restored  ; 
and  now  that  the  face  has  been  cleared  from  those 
darkening  clouds  which  the  process  of  toil  has  en- 
gendered, we  might  expect  to  see  there  mirrored 
those  affections  of  the  heart  which  fluctuate  around 
the  realities  of  home.  It  is  otherwise  ;  physical 
strength  is  exhausted  by  the  severity,  or  the  spirits 
are   rendered   dull   by   the   monotony,   of    labour. 


THE      TORCH      OF      TIME.  23 

These  conditions  are  potent  barriers  in  preventing 
the  few  hours  before  bed-time  from  being  spent  in 
such  a  way  as  tends  greatly  to  promote  domestic 
cheerfuhiess,  order,  or  harmony.  And  when  we 
reflect  how  prone  human  nature  is  to  let  shp  the 
precious  time  for  improvement,  it  cannot  be 
doubted  but  that  people  will  find  an  easy  apology 
for  neglecting  their  duties  either  as  heads  or  mem- 
bers of  families,  when  suff'ering  from  lassitude  of 
body  or  spirit.  Should  the  younger  branches, 
stimulated  by  the  love  of  amusement,  rise  superior 
to  the  infirmities  produced  by  labour,  and  request 
an  hour  or  two  for  this  purpose,  their  parents 
readily  grant  such  request.  They  are  too  easy 
and  passive  to  revolve  in  their  minds  that  this 
grant,  given  in  love,  may  become  the  cause 
through  which  their  life  is  often  embittered.  In 
well-ordered  families  such  requests  are  seldom 
made,  or  if  so,  the  time  granted  is  spent  in  rational 
enjoyments.  Independent  of  this  thirst  for  amuse- 
ment on  the  part  of  youth,  which  eats  up  a  con- 
siderable portion  of  time,  there  are  other  circum- 
stances which  intervene,  and  occasionally  separate 
the  members  of  a  family  from  each  other  during 
the  hours  unoccupied  by  labour.  There  is  exter- 
nal as  well  as  internal  management  required  for 
the  comfort  and  well-being  of  every  family ;  and 
when  may  the  labouring  classes  attend  to  out-door 
arrangements,  if  not  during  those  hours  of  leisure 
after  their  daily  toils  have  been  accomplished  ?    In- 


0  3 


24  THE      TORCH      OF      TIME. 

roads  are  therefore  made  on  the  scanty  provision 
which  commercial  enterprise  has  left  to  even  the 
most  favoured  of  the  labouring  classes  for  nourish- 
ing natural  affection.  And  even  if  we  could  sup- 
pose those  few  hours  saved  from  the  innovation  of 
surrounding  circumstances,  does  any  one  imagine 
that  these  few  hours  can  be  turned  to  so  good  ac- 
count, in  regulating  the  waywardness  of  the  hu- 
man heart,  as  that  longer  period  which  God,  in  his 
infinite  mercy  and  wisdom,  has  provided  in  the 
weekly  Sabbath  for  the  benefit  of  his  creatures — a 
period  which,  for  the  time,  suspends  the  sentence, 
"  In  the  sweat  of  thy  face  shalt  thou  eat  bread" — 
and,  while  it  reUeves  the  labourer  from  bodily  toil, 
assumes  a  still  more  benignant  position  by  its  sa- 
cred character,  which  prevents  its  rest  from  being 
encroached  upon  by  common-day  circumstances  ? 
The  working  classes  hail  the  Sabbath  as  their  best 
opportunity  for  that  sweet  interchange  of  sym- 
pathy, and  of  being  mutually  the  donors  and  reci- 
pients of  those  good  and  kind  offices  which  nourish 
and  cement  the  family  relationship.  The  father 
looks  upon  it  as  the  most  valuable  of  all  time ;  his 
whole  family  are  imder  his  inspection  during  its 
happy  transit ;  his  heart  dilates  in  the  opportunity 
which  it  affords  for  converse  with  his  wife  and 
children ;  and  the  exercises  of  this  day  are  calcu- 
lated to  bind  their  affections  indissolubly  together. 
The  houses  of  the  labouring  classes  during  com- 
mon days  are  often  unavoidably  disordered.     The 


On  cominoi)  da 


-',  thf  litoo'"a  \vf>rkin^-;nairs  wife,  is  that  of  busy  activity. 
T()R(  u  OF  Time.  p.  'J5. 


THE      TORCH      OF      TIME.  25 

details  of  domestic  employment  being  carried  on 
in  the  same  apartment  in  which  the  family  sit  dur- 
ing their  leisure  time,  the  house  cannot  always  be 
in  that  state  of  order  or  cleanliness  which  is  de- 
sirable. On  common  days  the  life  of  a  working 
man's  wife  is  that  of  busy  activity.  From  the 
time  she  rises  to  the  time  she  goes  to  bed,  her 
hands  are  ceaselessly  working.  She  has  no  leisure 
time  ;  there  is  always  something  to  do  ;  her  labours 
are  never  at  an  end.  On  the  Sabbath,  however, 
her  toils  are  nearly  all  suspended.  We  say  nearly, 
not  completely,  because  she  has  the  meals  to  pre- 
pare on  that  as  well  as  on  other  days ;  but  this 
forms  but  a  small  proportion  of  her  common-day 
labours.  Towards  the  end  of  the  week  her  acti- 
vity is  unusually  conspicuous.  The  needle,  the 
iron,  the  scrubbing-brush,  and  other  domestic  uten- 
sils, are  handled  with  wonderful  dexterity.  Chairs, 
tables,  house-floor,  hearth-stone,  and  every  other 
household  article,  along  with  family-clothing,  as- 
sume such  an  air  of  order  and  cleanliness,  as  does 
one's  heart  good  to  behold.  What  is  the  meaning 
of  all  this  ?  has  she  an  aim  or  end  for  it  ?  or  is  she 
merely  following  a  bhnd  impulse  of  nature  ?  She 
is  a  rational  and  intelligent  creature,  and  as  such 
must  have  a  motive  for  such  exertion.  Her  mo- 
tive proceeds  from  the  Sabbath,  the  day  on  which 
her  husband  and  family  are  released  from  bodily 
labour  ;  a  whole  day  of  rest ;  a  period  sufficiently 
long  to  induce  them  to  thoroughly  cleanse  their 


4  * 


26  THE      TORCH      OF      TIME, 

persons,  and  lay  aside  their  dirty  common-day 
clothes.  Aware  of  all  this,  she  prepares  the  change 
of  garments,  and  puts  the  house  in  order,  knowing 
well  that  her  labours  will  be  rewarded  by  the  charm 
which  the  results  of  her  industry  lend  in  sweetening 
domestic  fellowship.  Order  and  cleanliness  pro- 
mote cheerfulness  and  health ;  they  elevate  all  so- 
cial enjoyments ;  they  raise  the  members  of  a  family 
in  the  estimation  of  each  other ;  under  their  aspect 
natural  affection  expands  and  flourishes  ;  they  may 
be  reckoned  the  cardinal  domestic  virtues ;  they 
are  great  incentives  to  moral  goodness,  if  not  mo- 
rality itself.  Look  at  the  abodes  of  sensuality  and 
crime ;  there  is  disorder,  disease,  and  filth.  Where 
do  health,  morality,  and  religion  abide  ?  In 
dwellings  methodised  and  cleansed. 

Did  we  regard  the  Sabbath  as  a  stimulant  to  the 
labouring  classes  for  cleanliness  alone,  the  whole 
medical  world  will  attest  its  importance  in  the  pre- 
servation of  health,  and  true  philanthropy  will 
laud  it  as  the  best  sanitary  measure  hitherto  em- 
ployed for  the  physical  improvement  of  the  work- 
ing people.  How  just  their  praise  !  It  is  God's 
sanitary  provision  for  the  sons  and  daughters  of 
toil.  Does  any  one  doubt  the  utility  of  the  Sab- 
bath in  promoting  cleanliness  ?  Let  him  visit  some 
of  our  manufacturing  towns  on  common  days,  and 
while  beholding  the  busy  throng  he  will  have  no 
difficulty  in  recognizing  the  labouring  classes. 
Their  position  in  society  is  too  palpably  impressed 


THE      TORCH      OF      TIME.  2/ 

on  their  faces,  hands,  and  clothing,  to  prevent  de- 
tection. Bat  let  such  a  doubter  visit  the  same 
place  on  the  Sabbath,  and  the  discovery  is  not  so 
easily  made  ;  all,  on  that  day,  are  nearly  on  a?  level, 
so  far  as  cleanliness  goes.  Doubt  is  annihilated  by 
the  presence  of  such  demonstrative  facts.  These 
facts  metamorphose  the  doubter  into  a  lover  of  the 
working  classes.  On  the  Sabbath  the  sons  of  toil 
present  a  far  more  lovable  appearance  than  they 
do  on  common  days.  They  are  less  objects  of  pity 
and  commiseration,  because  they  are  clean,  and, 
being  clean,  they  are  consequently  comfortable,  for 
the  skin,  being  cleared  of  the  hindrances  which  ob- 
struct the  unconscious  perspiration  continually 
flowing  through  its  innumerable  pores,  performs  its 
functions  with  greater  ease.  Cheerfulness  and  ac- 
tivity are  therefore  encouraged,  the  esteem  and  at- 
tachment of  friends  and  relations  secured  and 
strengthened,  while  every  enjoyment,  whether  so- 
cial or  individual,  is  relished  with  greater  happi- 
ness and  delight.  Thus  the  Sabbath,  while  shed- 
ding a  balm  to  cure  the  cankered  wounds  inflicted 
on  the  families  of  labouring  men,  by  the  length 
and  diversity  of  their  occupations,  breathes  a  still 
profounder  sympathy  for  them,  in  inducing  those 
habits  which  sweeten  and  elevate  domestic  affec- 
tion and  fellowship. 


28  THE      TORCH      OF      TIME. 


IV.    THE  SABBATH  IS  A  GREAT   TEMPORAL   BLESSma, 
AS   IT   AFFORDS   TIME    FOR   MENTAL   EXERCISE. 

In  our  age  nothing  is  so  well  worthy  of  praise 
as  that  desire,  which  is  every  day  growing  wider 
and  wider,  for  the  mental  and  moral  ihumination 
of  the  people.  We  hail  the  expansion  of  this  de- 
sire as  the  precursor  of  that  glorious  period,  yet 
afar  off,  when  religion,  science,  and  literature  shall 
have  developed  their  gigantic  proportions,  and 
spread  their  benign  influences  over  all  lands ;  when 
knowledge  shall  have  covered  the  earth,  "  even  as 
the  waters  cover  the  sea."  Little,  very  little,  has, 
as  yet,  however,  been  done  beyond  the  desire  of 
bringing  about  this  predicted  period.  But  this  de- 
sire, we  believe,  will  gradually  resolve  itself  into 
action.  The  same  necessity  that  gave  it  birth  still 
exists,  and  will  mature  and  make  it  operative.  It 
has  arisen  out  of  two  states  the  most  opposite  to 
one  another — knowledge  and  ignorance.  The  lat- 
ter has  marked  its  course  by  intemperance,  misery, 
and  crime.  The  former,  in  every  stage  of  its  pro- 
gress, has. become  more  fully  convinced  that  the 
latter  must  be  eradicated,  else  society  will  be  in- 
fested with  moral  pestilence  more  dreadful  than  the 
stings  of  "  ten  thousand  scorpions."  Hence  the 
desire  for  educating  the  people.  This  desire,  like 
most  human  desires,  is  far  too  sanguine.  The  ob- 
ject which  it  has  in  view  is  not  so  easily  attained 


THE      TORCH      OF      TIME.  29 

as  many  imagine.  For  wliile  the  great  body  of  the 
people  are  subjected  to  labour  for  ten,  twelve,  or 
fourteen  hours  per  day,  their  progress  in  mental  or 
moral  acquirements  is  necessarily  slow  and  feeble, 
and,  but  for  the  Sabbath,  would  be  checked  and 
destroyed.  Let  us,  therefore,  investigate  the  ad- 
vantages of  this  institution  in  furthering  and  pre- 
serving the  mental  elevation  of  the  labouring 
people. 

That  there  exists  between  the  mind  and  the 
body  a  very  close  and  intimate  connexion  no  one 
can  deny.  What  the  mode  of  this  connexion  is 
none  can  satisfactorily  define.  Excessive  applica- 
tion on  the  part  of  either  destroys  the  powers  of 
both.  The  body  is  enfeebled  by  the  unreasonable 
indulgence  of  the  m.ind ;  the  mind  is  starved  by 
the  excessive  or  continued  operations  of  the  body.  ^ 
These  facts  are  obvious  to  every  one  who  reflects 
on  the  constitution  of  his  nature.  They  are  the 
lights  by  which  we  are  to  exhibit  the  advantage  of 
the  Sabbath  in  preserving  a  period  for  mental  ex- 
ertion ;  for,  without  it,  the  labouring  classes  have 
no  other  worthy  the  name.  It  might  have  been 
expected,  from  the  increased  facilities  Avhich  the 
introduction  of  machinery  has  afforded  in  the  pro- 
duction of  articles,  that  human  labour  would  have 
been  diminished,  or  that  the  labourer,  while  attend- 
ing his  occupation,  or  after  they  had  been  com- 
pleted, might  have  opportunity  for  exercising  his 
mind  on  subjects  of  an  elevating  tendency.     Such 


30  THE      TORCH      OF      TIME. 

anticipations  have  not  been  realized,  nor  do  the 
present  usages  of  society  intimate  their  speedy  con- 
summation. Our  commercial  system  has  to  under- 
go a  thorough  reformation  before  such  a  salutary 
change  can  be  introduced.  There  is  by  far  too 
much  selfishness  in  the  world  for  any  one  to  in- 
dulge the  fond  hope  that  the  labourer  will  regain 
a  portion  of  the  time  commercial  enterprise  has 
bought  from  him,  for  the  cultivation  of  his  mind. 
Does  not  the  very  fact  that  working  men  are  called 
upon  to  vindicate  the  advantages  of  the  Sabbath, 
demonstrate  that  the  tendency  of  the  capitalist  is  to 
purchase  from  them  as  much  time  or  labour  as  they 
are  prepared  to  sell?  "Vanity  of  vanities  !"  La- 
bouring on  this  day  involves  the  ruin  of  both.  Let 
not  the  commercial  men  of  our  age  suppose  that 
Sabbath  labour  will  convert  their  shillings  into 
crowns,  their  crowns  into  pounds,  and  so  on, 
through  all  the  migrations  of  wealth.  Let  them 
know  that  the  destruction  of  this  wise  institution 
consigns  the  producers  of  wealth,  the  working 
classes,  to  a  state  of  mental  and  moral  degradation, 
ruinous  to  the  interests  of  all,  because  the  Sabbath 
is  the  only  antidote  to  those  poisonous  influences 
which  the  keen  competition  of  individual  interests 
hath  generated.  We  do  not  here  mean  to  insinuate 
any  sympathy  for  the  Utopian  impracticabilities  of 
a  school  of  philanthropists  that  misled  many  of 
our  companions  in  toil  a  few  years  ago.  On  the 
contrary,  we  believe  that  our  competitive  system, 


THE      TORCH      OP      TIME.  31 

with  all  its  evils,  is  a  living  demonstration  of  the 
baseless  structure  which  the  community-philoso- 
phers attempted  to  erect.  Our  competitive  system 
is  a  manifestation  of  human  nature,  and  though  it 
may  be  subject  to  salutary  modifications,  yet,  even 
as  it  now  exists,  we  readily  admit,  that  while  it 
has  entailed  many  evils,  it  has  likewise  produced 
much  good  for  society.  The  good  is  experienced 
by  all ;  the  evil  directly,  or  chiefly,  by  the  labour- 
ing classes.  They  suffer  much  from  the  mental 
starvation  to  which  it  exposes  them,  and  if  not 
counteracted  by  the  Sabbath,  would  envelope  them 
in  ignorance  and  mental  imbecility.  The  competi- 
tion of  individual  interests  has  created  innumera- 
ble new  employments,  and  raised  the  character  of 
these  employments,  by  transferring  the  lowest  of 
the  drudgery  to  pistons,  levers,  and  wheels.  Its 
leading  object,  however,  is  the  cheapening  of  pro- 
duce to  increase  the  demand ;  and  the  consequence 
is,  that  where  the  labouring  classes  have  been  re- 
lieved from  severe  muscular  exertion,  mental  exer- 
cise, in  the  prosecution  of  their  several  arts,  is  re- 
stricted to  the  performance  of  the  minutest  por- 
tions of  labour  on  particular  articles. 

Look,  for  example,  at  pin-making,  and  none  can 
fail  to  perceive  that  the  mind  of  the  operative,  if 
not  suspended  during  the  operation,  is  at  best  con- 
fined to  such  simple  exercise  as  tends  to  destroy 
its  efficacy  in  regulating  the  more  important  pur- 
poses of  life.     One  man  draws  the  wire  of  which 


32  THE      TORCH      OF      TIME. 

the  pill  is  made,  a  second  cats  it  to  its  length,  a 
third  points  it,  a  fourth  makes  the  head,  a -fifth  putg 
on  the  head.  This  insignificant  article,  when  com- 
plete, does  not  imply  much  mental  exercise,  al- 
though the  whole  of  its  details  had  been  carried 
on  hy  one  person,  yet  the  small  field  for  the  exist- 
ence of  mitid — for  mind  only  exists  by  exercise — 
is  split  up  into  no  less  than  five  divisions  by  the 
keen  competition  now  paramount  among  men. 
Before  the  pin  is  brought  into  the  market  for  sale, 
it  has  to  pass  through  the  hand  of  no  less  than  two 
others,  and  then  its  price  is  such  as  implies  great 
animal  activity  on  the  part  of  all  engaged  in  its 
production.  The  induction,  then,  is  natural  and 
true,  that  the  minds  of  the  different  artists  are 
starved  during  the  hours  of  labour — their  spirits 
exhausted,  and  consequently  ill-adapted  to  support 
mental  exertion  after  the  labours  of  the  day — and 
that  the  Sabbath,  being  a  whole  day  of  rest,  is  es- 
sential for  the  preservation  of  intellect  amongst 
them.  Should  it  be  said  that  the  working  classes 
are  not  all  pin-makers,  or  that  competition  has  not 
extended  these  evils  to  other  trades,  we  may  reply 
that  these  evils  are  evolved  by  the  very  nature  of 
our  competitive  system — the  aim  of  which,  as  has 
already  been  observed,  being  the  cheapening  of  ar- 
ticles to  increase  the  demand  ;  men  are  consequently 
trained  to,  and  kept  at,  particular  portions  of  labour. 
They  therefore  attain  greater  proficiency  in  their 
several  arts ;  commodities  are  produced  better  and 


THE      TORCH      OF      TIME.  33 

cheaper  than  if  one  performed  the  whole  details  of 
I  an  art.  In  order  to  prevent  any  appearance  of  a 
disposition  to  beg  the  question,  by  confining  our 
attention  to  the  single  example  of  a  simple  art  like 
pin-making,  let  us  present  another — one  that  im- 
plies a  wider  field  for  mental  labour.  The  steam- 
engine  is  a  noble  monument  of  human  skill  and 
ingenuity  !  Its  varied  adaptations,  and  complex, 
yet  felicitous,  arrangements,  intimate  that  varied 
faculties  of  mind  are  exercised  in  collecting  the 
nude  and  inert  ores  of  earth,  and  imparting  to 
them  forms,  movements,  and  powers,  which  not 
only  circumscribe  time  and  space,  but  make  the 
mightiest  elements  of  nature  succumb  to  man's 
sovereign  will.  Competition  has  dissected  the 
body  of  mental  exercise  concomitant  on  the  erec- 
tion of  steam-engines  into  what  we  call  ten  primary 
divisions,  such  as  draughtsmen,  pattern-makers, 
boiler-makers,  blacksmiths,  iron  and  brass-moulders, 
vicemen,  &c.,  &c.  These  primary  divisions  are 
often  subdivided  into  as  many  separate  divisions  as 
there  are  different  parts  in  an  engine  ;  one  man 
moulds  the  cylinder,  another  moulds  the  cylinder- 
cover,  and  others  mould  different  parts ;  one  man 
turns  the  cylinder,  a  second  turns  its  cover,  a  third 
turns  the  piston,  a  fourth  turns  the  piston-rod,  and 
so  on  through  all  the  primary  divisions.  Farther 
enumeration  is  unnecessary,  as  no  one  can  fail  to 
perceive  that  the  mental  exertion  implied  in  the 
production  of  steam-engines  is,  by  the  division  of 


34  THE      TORCH      OP      TIME. 

labour,  so  transfused  as  to  preclude  the  develop- 
ment of  the  minds  of  the  labourers.  These  ex- 
amples have  been  given,  not  because  they  are  the 
only  ones  we  can  adduce  (for  all  trades  are  in  the 
same  predicament,)  but  because  they  represent  two 
extremes — the  one  being  among  the  most  simple 
arts,  the  other  amongst  the  most  complex,  showing 
how  the  division  of  labour  reduces  all  nearly  to  a 
level.  We  do  not  attribute  entirely  to  competition 
the  divisions  of  labour  that  take  place  in  civilized 
society ;  there  are  some  which  obtain  in  conse- 
quence of  the  different  tastes  of  individuals.  Com- 
petition has  extended  these  natural  divisions,  and 
split  them  up  into  innumerable  distinct  parts.  The 
labourer  has  been  converted  into  a  mere  machine — ■ 
a  tool.  Those  quahties  of  his  nature  that  consti- 
tute him  a  rational  and  intelligent  being,  and  the 
proper  exercise  of  which  produces  his  greatest  hap- 
piness, are  nearly  suspended  for  ten,  twelve,  or 
fourteen  hours  a  day,  and  were  it  not  for  the  inter- 
vention of  the  Sabbath,  would  perish  in  the  con- 
fined and  barren  field  to  which  competition  has 
consigned  them.  It  is  true  that  the  respite  of  an 
hour  or  two  after  the  toils  of  each  day  affords  a 
kind  of  opportunity  for  the  exercise  of  intellect,  in 
pursuits  which  may  tend  to  heighten  and  expand 
its  capacities  ;  but  when  we  reflect  that  this  brief 
period  transpires  at  the  time  when  the  body  is 
sighing  for  repose — when  the  spirit  is  wearied  and 
exhausted — it  cannot  be  thought  that  the  opportu- 


THE      TORCH      OF      TIME.  35 

nity  thus  afforded,  though  wholly  spent  in  mental 
cultivation,  is  sufficient  for  the  development  of 
those  faculties  which  distinguish  man  as  an  im- 
mortal being,  preparing,  by  his  exertions  here,  for 
the  enjoyment  of  an  eternal  destiny,  to  be  spent  in 
the  society  of  pure  and  blessed  spirits.  Such  a 
thought  is  not  only  an  insult  to  the  labourer's  in- 
telligence— it  is  an  insult  to  the  God  who  made  us 
all.  He  has  provided  a  day  in  every  seven,  a  day 
on  which  the  mind,  unclogged  by  toil,  may  exer- 
cise its  capacities  in  looking  beyond  the  vista  of  its 
terrestrial  destiny — where,  when  it  has  "  shuffled 
off  its  mortal  coil,'^  it  shall  exist  in  yet  more  than 
its  present  sensibilities,  powers,  and  capacities, 
throughout  the  revolving  periods  of  an  eternal 
Sabbath. 

Some  have  affirmed  that  the  monotony  resulting 
from  the  division  of  labour  affords  the  labourer 
opportunity  for  exercising  his  mind  on  any  subject 
while  attending  his  occupation.  Such  persons 
know  nothing  of  labour,  when  they  make  such  as- 
sertions. In  occupations,  even  where  muscular 
energy  is  nearly  suspended,  the  attention  is  so 
completely  absorbed  that  the  machine  or  tool  be- 
comes a  part  of  the  workman.  His  eyes  are  intent 
on  its  motions,  his  ears  are  surrendered  to  the 
identity  of  its  sounds,  his  hands  are  incessantly  de- 
manded to  fill  its  devouring  mouth,  or  to  relieve  its 
indigestive  stomach,  his  Avhole  bodily  senses  are 
concentrated  by  its  focal  power,  his  mind  dares  not 


36  THE      TORCH      OF      TIME. 

move  beyond  this  uniform  scene  to  indulge  in  ele- 
vating reflections  or  imaginings,  his  attention  is  so 
closely  engaged  in  regulating  the  eye,  the  hand, 
the  ear,  as  precludes  the  possibility  of  its  being  ab- 
stracted to  wait  on  the  faculties  of  the  mind.  Were 
the  operative  to  withdraw  attention  from  his  ma- 
chine for  such  a  length  of  time  as  would  suffice  for 
the  profitable  application  of  his  mind,  he  knows 
that  he  would  soon  merit  the  character  of  being  a 
careless  and  indolent  workman.  Competition, 
though  regardless  of  what  his  mind  can  attain  or 
perform,  is  very  jealous  of  what  his  body,  leagued 
with  a  machine  or  tool,  has  attained  and  can  per- 
form. At  the  beginning  of  the  day  or  week,  the 
quantity  of  labour  he  is  able  to  produce  is  calcu- 
lated with  such  comprehensive  skill  and  accuracy 
as  baffles  all  attempts  on  his  part  to  spare  attention 
during  the  hours  of  labour  to  wait  on  the  opera- 
tions of  his  mind.  The  overseer  comes  round  at 
the  end  of  the  day  or  week  to  ascertain  if  the 
amount  of  labour  previously  calculated  and  known 
is  produced ;  if  it  is  not, — reader,  you  can  con- 
ceive the  consequence. 

The  monotonous  scene  in  which  most  labouring 
people  pass  the  greatest  portion  of  their  time, 
united  with  their  imperfect  education,  if  not  coun- 
teracted by  the  periodic  return  of  the  Sabbath, 
would  degrade  and  stupefy  their  minds.  The 
meagre  task  of  simple  and  unvaried  application 
destroys  memory,  blinds  perception,  shuts  out  re- 


THE      TORCH      OF      TIME.  37 

flection,  deadens  affection,  darkens  the  understand- 
ing, sears  tlie  conscience,  and  disposes  the  judg- 
ment to  error  and  prejudice.  If  there  were  no 
Sabbath,  the  labouring  classes  would  become  unfit 
for  regulating  their  own  affairs,  either  as  heads  or 
members  of  families. 

For  want  of  opportunity  to  exercise  their  intel- 
lectual faculties,  they  would  be  unable  to  discrimi- 
nate their  exact  position  in  the  chain  of  existence, 
and  become  an  easy  prey  to  infidel  pedagogues 
and  political  agitators.  Intemperance,  sensuality, 
and  all  low  and  groveling  pleasures,  will  soon  vic- 
timize people  consigned  to  an  uniform  and  unva- 
ried scene  of  action,  which  at  best  limits  the  mind 
to  mechanical  contrivances.  God  would  cease  to 
be  feared,  man  would  cease  to  be  obeyed,  anarchy 
and  confusion  would  riot  in  dreadful  antagonism 
with  the  best  interests  of  man,  time  would  become 
a  moral  nuisance,  and  not  that  probationary  state 
of  man's  existence  through  which  he  has  to  pass, 
before  reaching  the  ultimatum  of  his  destiny,  which 
is  to  "  glorify  God  and  enjoy  him  for  ever." 

Let  us  thank  the  Author  of  our  being,  from 
whom  Cometh  "  every  good  and  every  perfect  gift," 
for  ameliorating  the  evils  we  have  described,  by 
the  weekly  Sabbath — a  day  which  not  only  affords 
time  and  opportunity  for  mental  exercise,  but, 
being  a  day  sacred  for  holiness  unto  the  Lord,  calls 
upon  men  to  exercise  their  minds  on  themes  which 
not  only  unfold  the  best  enjoyments  mortals  in 


38  THE      TORCH      OF      TIME. 

their  temporal  condition  are  permitted  to  taste,  but 
which,  while  quickening,  purify  the  mind ;  themes 
on  which  angels,  we  are  told — and  we  believe  it — 
delight  to  exercise  their  transcendent  capacities; 
themes  which  nourished  the  sublime  mind  of  a 
Milton — the  comprehensive  and  versatile  faculties 
of  a  Chalmers — and  the  God-like  sympathy  of  a 
Wilberforce ;  themes  which  have  nourished  and 
ripened  the  greatest  mental  seeds  which  it  has 
pleased  God  to  plant  in  the  constitution  of  man. 

Is  it,  then,  said  that  the  Sabbath,  to  the  working 
classes,  is  not  a  great  temporal  blessing  ?  We 
reply  by  asking.  When  may  their  minds  be  profit- 
ably exercised,  if  not  on  the  Sabbath  ?  Or,  What 
is  there  in  their  every-day  condition  to  quicken 
and  purify  the  mind,  if  not  stimulated  by  the  exer- 
cises of  that  hallowed  day  ? 


V.  THE  SABBATH,  TO  THE  WORKING  CLASSES,  IS 
A  GREAT  TEMPORAL  BLESSING,  AS  IT  TENDS 
TO  PROMOTE  MORALITY  AND  RELIGION  AMONG 
THEM. 

We  need  not  enlarge  on  the  connexion  between 
temporal  happiness  and  the  pure  morality  and 
cheering  hopes  of  Christianity.  The  religion  of 
Jesus  is  the  very  foundation  for  the  wholesome 


THE      TORCH      OF      TIME.  39 

existence  of  human  society.  Being  a  living  prin- 
ciple, of  a  pra.ctical  nature  and  tendency,  those 
who  embrace  it  are  rendered  more  just,  benevo- 
lent, and  kind,  towards  their  fellow-men — more 
careful  and  temperate  in  the  government  of  their 
passions  and  appetites — vice  is  restrained  through 
the  terror  of  future  punishment — virtue  and  piety 
encouraged  by  the  promise  of  future  happiness. 
Before  people  are  either  influenced  or  benefitted  by 
the  purifying  power  of  Christianity,  they  must  be 
instructed  in  its  precepts — its  glorious  promises 
must  be  unfolded  to  them.  Through  what  me- 
dium, then,  is  Christianity  to  be  taught  unto  the 
sons  and  daughters  of  toil  ?  In  youth  their  educa- 
tion is  often  entirely  and  miserably  neglected ;  at 
best  it  is  only  elementary — they  merely  learn  to 
read  the  Bible.  The  early  age  at  which  they  are 
demanded  for  labour  destroys  the  true  aim  of 
sound  education,  which  is,  to  teach  them  to  think 
and  act  here  as  becomes  intellectual,. moral,  and 
spiritual  probationers,  passing  through  the  transi- 
tory epochs  of  time  to  a  state  of  higher  and  more 
ennobling  destinies.  Such  being  the  true  aim  of 
education,  in  its  proper  acceptation,  it  becomes  an 
important  question  to  ascertain  how  far  the  Sab- 
bath tends  to  promote  it  amongst  the  labouring 
classes.  We  have  already  described  the  dissocia- 
tion that  obtains  amongst  them  by  the  length  and 
diversity  of  their  employments;  the  temptations, 
external  and  internal,  to  which  they  are  exposed  ; 


40  THE      TORCH      OP      TIME. 

the  exhaustion  of  spirit,  or  muscular  energy,  as 
unfitting  their  minds  for  profitable  exercise  after 
the  labours  of  the  day ;  the  monotony  evolved  by 
the  division  of  labour,  as  tending  to  promote  men- 
tal and  moral  dissipation  and  darkness ;  and  the 
few  short  hours,  where  such  are  granted,  at  the 
close  of  the  day,  as  infringed  upon  and  curtailed 
by  necessary  circumstances ;  add  to  these  the  dis- 
piriting remuneration  they  receive  for  labour — at 
most  barely  adequate  to  support  them  in  comfort — 
at  worst  insufficient  to  support  mere  animal  exist- 
ence ;  and  how  is  Christianity  to  reach  them  with- 
out the  weekly  Sabbath  ?  When  may  the  law, 
"  Love  the  Lord  with  all  your  heart  and  soul,  and 
love  your  neighbour  as  yourself,"  be  expounded 
to  them  ?  Is  conscience  alone  sufficient  to  unfold 
and  enforce  the  moral  obligations  contained  in  the 
Divine  statutes  ?  Alas !  conscience,  though  the 
most  entire  amid  the  wreck  of  human  nature,  is 
liable  to  become  seared  as  with  a  red-hot  iron. 
Vice  and  passion  have  often  lulled  it  into  so  pro- 
found a  slumber,  that  men  have  hated  the  Lord, 
themselves,  and  their  fellow-men.  The  history  of 
the  world  displays  this  melancholy  and  momentous 
truth  in  characters  of  blood.  Every  gibbet,  every 
prison,  every  drunkard,  every  sensualist,  every  day 
reveals  a  new  necessity  for  arousing  the  sensibili- 
ties of  the  silent  monitor  within  us.  If  conscience 
is  not  quickened  by  frequent  and  continuous  con- 
tact with  the  Divine  law,  its  power  as  a  guide  to 


THE      TORCH      OF      TIME.  41 

human  conduct  is  palsied  and  weak.  When,  then, 
may  the  teacher  of  rehgion  reveal  that  awful  sen- 
tence, "  The  soul  that  sinneth  it  shall  die  ?"  or  open 
to  view  the  blessed  destiny  awaiting  believers, 
which  is  secured  by  the  blood  of  a  Divine  Re- 
deemer ?  In  a  country  like  ours,  Christianity  can 
only  reach  the  great  body  of  the  people  through 
the  medium  of  public  instruction.  Private  piety 
is  doubtless  as  essential  for  the  development  of  the 
Christian  character  as  public  devotion ;  men  are 
first  members  of  the  visible  Church  on  earth  before 
ripened  for  the  invisible ;  private  piety,  in  most 
cases,  is  induced  by  public  devotion  ;  the  Church  is 
the  school  in  which  the  labouring  classes  are  trained 
to  embrace  the  purifying  truths  and  promises  con- 
tained in  God's  word.  Without  the  public  preach- 
ing of  the  word  of  God,  Christianity  to  them,  we 
unhesitatingly  afiirm,  were  impracticable.  Men, 
by  nature,  know  not  God ;  they  must  be  brought 
into  contact  with  His  laws  and  infinite  mercy,  ere 
they  will  obey  the  one  or  accept  the  ather.  Now, 
how  is  public  teaching  practicable  to  the  working 
people  without  the  aid  of  a  weekly  Sabbath  ? 
There  is  nothing  in  their  every-day  condition  to 
dispose  them  to  assemble  themselves  together  after 
the  toils  of  the  day  to  hear  the  word  of  God  ex- 
pounded. There  is  everything  that  militates  against, 
it.  There  are  vast  numbers  who,  though  they  had 
the  will,  are  denied  the  opportunity,  by  the  length 
of  hours  they  labour.     There    are    others  again, 


42  THE      TORCH      OF      TIME. 

who,  having  the  respite  of,  at  best,  only  two  or 
three  hours  at  the  close  of  each  day,  would  find  a 
satisfactory  apology,  in  languor  of  body  and  lassi- 
tude of  spirit  and  mind,  for  neglecting  such  instruc- 
tion. Those  having  both  the  inclination  and  the 
opportunity,  would  be  in  an  unfit  condition  to  re- 
ceive profitable  and  lasting  benefit  from  instruction 
in  Divine  things,  when  the  period  of  that  teaching 
is  in  close  connexion  with  toil.  The  Sabbath  re- 
moves all  obstacles,  breaks  down  all  barriers,  de- 
stro^^s  all  excuses,  affords  opportunity  for  all  to 
receive  religious  instruction.  It  is  the  voice  of 
Time  calling  all  to  the  worship  of  the  Eternal ! 
As  the  bow  in  the  heavens  exalts  the  majesty  and 
mercy  of  heaven  to  the  visible  eye,  so  the  Sabbath 
displays,  in  the  movements  of  time,  the  presence 
of  Jehovah.  It  has  a  moral  effect  even  on  those 
who  are  still  "  in  the  gall  of  bitterness,  and  in  the 
bond  of  iniquity."  Conscience,  if  not  dreadfully 
seared,  is  awakened  at  its  approach.  The  drunken 
and  licentious  are  reminded  of  their  vices  and  sins 
by  its  solemn  presence ;  if  not  entirely  lost  to 
shame,  they  dare  not  pursue  their  ruinous  follies 
with  impunity  in  the  light  of  that  hallowed  day. 
The  very  churches  on  that  day,  pointing  with  their 
spires  to  heaven,  intimate  the  presence  of  our  last 
Judge.  If  all  days  were  alike  in  this  world  of  ig- 
norance and  sin,  God  would  be  forgotten.  Com- 
mon days  are  so  completely  secularised,  that  on 
them  there  is  no  period  sufficiently  impressive  to 


THE      TORCH      OF      TIME.  43 

remind  the  bulk  of  mankind  that  the  Triune  God 
requires  to  be  worshipped,  reverenced,  and  feared. 
Working  days  have  become  only  calls  to  the  wor- 
ship of  Mammon.  Worldly  ambition  has  ob- 
scured from  men's  sight  the  moral  Governor  and 
Redeemer  of  Adam's  offspring ;  but  he  dethrones 
the  gods  of  this  world  by  the  interposition  of  the 
weekly  Sabbath ;  it  is  a  day  of  sacred  rest ;  the 
business  of  this  world  must  be  laid  aside,  and  the 
business  of  the  next  attended  to. 

Wlien  we  reflect  on  the  depravity  of  human  na- 
ture, and  the  vitiating  circumstances  in  which  a 
great  proportion  of  our  companions  in  toil  are  situ- 
ated, we  cannot  conceive  even  the  shadow  of  a 
possibility  for  them  becoming  acquainted  and  im- 
pressed by  the  truths  of  Christianity  without  the 
Sabbath.  It  is  the  only  day  on  which  God's  hus- 
bandmen may  sow  and  nourish  the  seeds  of  reli- 
gion amongst  them.  On  that  day  they  have  no 
excuse  for  neglecting  to  wait  upon  God  in  the 
courts  of  His  house.  The  doors  are  thrown  open 
to  all ;  even  the  poorest  of  the  poor  may  enter,  yea, 
are  summoned  and  importuned  to  come  and  listen 
to  the  purifying  truths  of  the  Bible.  Christ  com- 
mfssioned  his  disciples^  to  go  and  preach  the  Gospel 
unto  all  nations.  The  Sabbath  renders  this  com- 
mission practical  to  every  class  of  people  in  every 
nation ;  without  it  the  labouring  classes  of  our 
country  would  have  neither  time,  opportunity,  nor 
a  visible  call  for  attending  the  church.    Thousands 


44  THE      TORCH      OF      TIME. 

upon  thousands  among  them  never  heard  of  mo- 
raUty  or  religion  before  they  attended  the  Sabbath- 
school  or  the  church.  Family  prayer,  Avhich  so 
strengthens  family  affection,  only  exists  among 
them  by  the  public  preaching  of  the  word.  The 
churches  and  Sabbath-schools  are  the  colleges 
wherein  they  are  taught  their  duties  to  God,  them- 
selves, and  their  fellows;  without  these,  they 
would  have  no  other  guides  for  conduct  and  hap- 
piness than  their  own  corrupt  hearts  and  sleeping 
consciences,  exposed  to  the  searing  influences  with 
which  they  are  surrounded.  The  Sabbath,  there- 
fore, in  providing  the  church,  the  school,  and  the 
preacher  and  teacher,  has  become  the  only  day  for 
the  elevation  of  character  and  of  all  classes  in  the 
community ;  none  stand  more  in  need  of  sound 
moral  and  religious  principles,  because  none  are 
exposed  to  greater  hardships  and  temptation  than 
the  labouring  classes.  Their  temporal  lot  reveals 
no  bright  spot  on  which  the  eye  may  rest  and  sur- 
vey in  pleasure  their  burdensome  destiny,  except 
on  the  Sabbath ;  on  it  even  the  eye  of  sense  per- 
ceives the  asperities  of  their  condition  smoothed 
down,  while  the  eye  of  faith  beholds  them  exalted 
above  cobles,  princes,  and  kings,  for  God  has 
chosen  to  manifest  His  ppwer  in  the  conversion  of 
souls,  through  the  preaching  of  the  word,  and  that 
day  imparts  to  them  the  only  badges  of  dignity  He 
requires.    The  Sabbath  exercises  wean  their  hearts 


THE      TORCH      OF      TIME. 


from  sin,  melt  them  into  love,  and  fit  and  prepare 
them  for  the  enjoyment  of  a  glorious  immortality. 

The  Sabbath  acts  indirectly  on  the  temporal 
well-being  of  the  labouring  classes,  because  it  is  a 
stated  call  for  all  to  worship  the  only  living  and 
true  God.  The  middle  and  upper  classes  are  there- 
fore brought  into  contact  with  those  principles 
which  promote  universal  happiness.  It  imposes  a 
check  on  worldly  ambition  and  human  selfishness. 
It  stimulates  piety  ;  piety  extends  benevolence.  It 
is  on  this  day  men  are  especially  taught  that  what- 
ever of  this  world's  comforts  they  possess,  they 
are  entirely  dependent  for  these  on  the  providence 
of  God  ;  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  rich  to  assist  and 
protect  the  poor ;  that  we  are  all  but  sojourners 
here  below,  sprung  from  a  common  parent,  have  a 
common  guilty  and  sin-loving  nature  requiring  to 
be  changed,  for  which  a  common  Saviour  is  pro- 
vided and  a  common  salvation  guarantied ;  that 
we  are  all  to  appear  before  a  common  Judge  on 
the  last  day,  to  be  approved  or  condemned,  accord- 
ing to  our  actions,  and  that  the  language  of  con- 
demnation shall  be,  "  Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  not 
unto  one  of  the  least  of  these,  ye  did  it  not  unto 
me." 

As  we  have  no  wish  to  exceed  the  space  to 
which  this  Essay  is  confined,  we  shall  conclude 
this  paragraph  by  observing,  that  the  labouring 
classes  invariably  find  masters  who  are  animated 
by  Bible  principles  to  be  the  most  charitable  and 


46  THE      TORCH      OF      TIME. 

kind  to  their  servants,  while  these  very  principles 
are  discerned  as  the  effect  of  the  Sabbath;  for 
where  they  are  possessed,  there  the  Sabbath  is 
strictly  and  purely  observed.  And  how  can  it  be 
otherwise,  seeing  it  is  God's  appointed  means  for 
educating  mankind  in  the  knowledge  of  Divine 
things.  Every  Sabbath  is  a  step  in  the  ladder 
which  He  is  constructing  between  earth  and 
heaven  ;  and  just  when  that  ladder  is  completed 
will  the  inhabitants  of  this  earth  be  in  a  fft  state 
for  the  enjoyment  of  their  celestial  destiny.  Thus 
the  Sabbath,  while  spreading  morality  and  religion 
among  the  labouring  classes,  deals  yet  more  boun- 
tifully by  them,  in  being  the  medium  through 
which  their  employers  are  chiefly  taught  those 
principles  which  generate  universal  love  and  sym- 
pathy. Therefore  it  has  with  truth  been  said,  "  the 
Sabbath  is  the  best  gift  of  God  to  man,  and  espe- 
cially to  the  poor."  Let  no  one  take  it  from  the 
labouring  classes ;  its  stated  appearance  amongst 
them  is  a  potent  call  to  worship  God  in  the  courts 
of  his  house.  This  is  its  most  benignant  character, 
for  in  proportion  as  they  are  impressed  by  religion, 
do  they  become  better  parents,  better  children, 
holier  and  happier  men. 

Having  now  finished  our  narrative  of  the  tem- 
poral advantages  of  the  Sabbath  to  the  labouring 
classes,  let  us  briefly  present  the  evidence  on  be- 
half of  preserving  its  rest  from  all  the  encroach- 
ments of  unnecessary  labour.     It  is  important  to 


THE      TORCH      OF      TIME.  47 

preserve  the  rest  of  the  Sabbath  from  all  the  en- 
croachments of  mmecessary  labour — first,  Because 
any  such  encroachments  tend  to  destroy  the  moral 
effect  of  the  Sabbath ;  second,  Because  any  such 
encroachments  expose  the  labouring  classes  to  be 
tempted,  through  poverty,  to  extend  their  labours 
to  that  day ;  third.  Because  any  such  encroach- 
ments expose  the  labouring  classes  to  be  coerced 
(even  against  the  dictates  of  conscience)  to  labour 
on  the  day  of  sacred  rest ;  lastly.  Because,  if  any- 
such  encroachments  are  permitted,  they  have  a 
tendency  to  multiply  and  extend,  until  the  Sabbath, 
with  its  inestimable  advantages,  be  wrested  from 
our  entire  labouring  population  ;  therefore,  in  order 
to  secure  it  to  all,  its  rest  must  be  preserved  from 
all  the  encroachments  of  unnecessary  labour. 


I.  THE  GREATEST  TEIMPOHAL  ADVANTAGE  OF  THE 
SABBATH  TO  THE  LABOURING  CLASSES  ARISES 
FROM  ITS  FITNESS  FOR  SPREADING  MORAL  AIsD 
RELIGIOUS   PRINCIPLES   AMONGST   THEM. 

This  fitness  proceeds  not  so  much  from  the 
opportunity  afforded,  by  the  cessation  from  labour, 
of  obtaining  instruction  in  Divine  things :  such  an 
opportunity,  we  admit,  involves  the  obligation  of 
improving  it  to  the  best  advantage  ;  but  when  we 


Q2 


48  THE      TORCH      OF      TIME. 

examine  the  condition  of  the  labouring  classes  on 
common  days,  and  the  state  of  education  amongst 
them,  we  discover  that  they  would  more  readily 
embrace  this  opportunity  for  pursuing  their  own 
carnal  pleasures,  than  wait  upon  instruction  in 
religion  and  morality.  They  must  be  influenced  to 
assemble  themselves  for  the  worship  of  God  by 
something  more  palpably  positive  than  the  duty 
evolved  by  the  opportunity.  God,  therefore,  in  his 
infinite  wisdom  and  love,  while  conferring  on  them 
a  right  to  be  exempt  from  toil  on  the  Sabbath,  has, 
in  the  same  law  which  sets  forth  that  right,  com- 
manded that  the  time  thus  guaranteed  is  to  be 
spent  in  holiness  unto  Himself.  The  sanctification 
of  the  Sabbath  is  as  much  a  part  of  the  fourth 
commandment  as  the  rest  which  it  provides,  and 
both  are  as  much  a  part  of  the  Divine  statutes  as 
any  of  the  other  nine  commandments.  The  Sab- 
bath was  instituted  at  the  beginning  of  man's  ex- 
istence ;  it  was  given  to  our  first  parents  as  a  privi- 
lege to  descend  to  the  whole  of  their  ofl'spring — a 
boon  conferred  on  man  as  man,  not  as  a  member 
of  this  or  that  particular  caste  or  locality.  It  ex- 
isted ere  sin  had  polluted  the  original  constitution  of 
human  nature  ;  ere  the  ground  had  been  cursed  for 
man's  sake ;  ere  the  sentence  had  been  pronounced— 
"  In  the  sweat  of  thy  face  shalt  thou  eat  bread,"  And 
now,  that  from  the  "  crown  of  the  head"  even  unto 
the  "sole  of  the  feet,"  we  are  "all  wounds  and 
bruises,  and  putrefying  sores;"   now,  that  in  the 


THE      TORCH      OF      TIME.  49 

"sweat  of  the  face"  we  verily  "eat  bread;"  now, 
that  we  are  cooped  up  in  workshops  and  factories, 
or  exposed  in  the  open  air  to  the  biting  blasts  of 
winter's  frosts  and  snows,  or  the  showers  and 
damps  consequent  on  all  seasons,  for  ten,  twelve, 
and  fourteen  hours  a-day,  and  thereby  shut  out 
from  communication  with  God  for  six  successive 
day^ ;  the  only  day  in  all  the  seven  that  specially 
reminds  us  of  our  duties  to  God,  is  the  Sabbath; 
and  surely  it  were  unwise  to  deny  us  the  benefit 
of  that  sacred  day — a  day  on  which  we  are  com- 
manded to  worship  him.  Sordid  ambition  may 
purchase  it  from  the  unprotected  labourer;  he  may 
abuse  it  through  intemperance  and  sensuality;  but 
neither  shall  be  justified  by  an  over-refined  senti- 
mentalisra,  or  a  subtle  and  dangerous  scepticism; 
for  he  who  gave  it  at  the  beginning  of  the  world, 
confirmed  it  again  from  INIount  Sinai,  and  placed 
it  in  the  middle  of  that  law  delivered  unto  Moses, 
as  the  only  rule  of  conduct  to  Jew  and  Gentile, 
bond  and  free,  high  and  low,  rich  and  poor,  of 
every  nation,  kindred,  and  clime.  Every  act  of 
unnecessary  labour  is  therefore  not  only  an  in- 
fringement of  man's  right  to  be  exempt  from  toil 
on  that  day,  but  is  an  open  and  direct  violation  of 
the  Divine  will.  Suppose  the  labourer  only  en- 
gaged for  an  hour  or  two,  he  is  as  much  a  trans- 
gressor as  if  he  laboured  for  ten  or  twelve.  He 
cannot  keep  conscience  with  the  Sabbath  while 
openly  defying  its  injunctions.     Grant  that  he  has 


50  THE      TORCH      OF      TIME. 

Still  time  for  attending  public  worship ;  but  where, 
we  ask,  is  his  call  for  doing  so  ?  Some  may  say 
that  the  opportunity  is  a  sufficient  call.  Such  a 
saying  is  fallacious,  not  only  because  we  have 
already  shown  that  something  more  plain  and 
distinct  is  requisite  in  the  present  condition  of  the 
labouring  classes,  but  because  the  Sabbath  labourer 
is  habitually  and  openly  disregarding  and  violating  a 
command  of  the  God  whom  he  is  required  to  worship 
and  obey :  "  Remember  the  Sabbath-day  to  keep 
it  holy :  six  days  shalt  thou  labour,  and  do  all  thy 
work ;  but  the  seventh  day  is  the  Sabbath  of  the 
Lord  thy  God ;  in  it  thou  shalt  not  do  any  work." 
When  these  injunctions  are  set  at  defiance,  no  one 
can  with  any  show  of  reasoning  conclude  that  the 
opportunity  is  sufficient. 

Encroachments  on  the  Sabbath  rest  by  unneces- 
sary labour  are  alike  injurious  to  the  persons  unem- 
ployed as  they  are  to  those  employed.  In  districts 
or  localities  where  such  encroachments  are  made, 
the  sacred  claims  of  the  Sabbath  are  enfeebled,  and 
ultimately  destroyed.  As  there  is  in  the  human 
heart  a  tendency  to  go  astray  from  God,  such 
vitiating  examples  are  powerful  stimulants  to  its 
waywardness.  Men  become  familiarised  with  sin ; 
and  every  one  knows  that  a  bad  example  is  more 
readily  embraced  and  more  impressive  than  a  good 
one.  The  truth  of  the  following  lines  is  distinctly 
revealed  by  Sabbath  desecrations,  or  encroachments 
of  unnecessary  labour : 


THE      TORCH      OP      TIME.  51 

"  Vice  is  a  monster,  of  so  hideous  mien, 
That  to  be  hated,  needs  but  to  be  seen ; 
But  seen  too  oft,  familiar  with  its  face 
We  first  endure,  then  pity,  then  embrace." 

Take  a  Scotchman  from  any  of  the  Sabbath- 
keeping  districts  of  his  native  land,  and  place  him 
in  London,  and  at  first  he  is  appalled  at  the  way 
in  which  the  Sabbath  is  desecrated  through  labour 
and  pleasure,  in  that  great  city ;  but  he  gradually 
conforms  to  its  usages,  mingles  in  its  scenes  of 
pleasure,  and,  if  needs  be,  engages  in  its  heaven- 
defying  labours.  Take  the  same  Scotchman  and 
place  him  in  Paris,  and  there,  too,  he  is  staggered 
on  the  first  appearance  of  the  Sabbath ;  but  he 
soon  becomes  inured  to  its  desecrations — his  con- 
science is  hushed  asleep  by  the  din  of  labour,  and 
the  music  of  pleasure.  He  attends  its  theatres, 
dancings,  boxings,  gambling-houses,  and  other  in- 
numerable modes  by  which  the  rest  of  the  Sabbath 
is  abused,  by  which  its  moral  effect  is  enfeebled 
and  destroyed.  Unnecessary  encroachment  on  the 
Sabbatical  rest  may  find  a  people  obeying  the 
sacred  claims  of  that  day,  but  it  gradually  dimin- 
ishes respect  for  these  claims.  It  may  find  a 
people  sunk  deeply  in  Sabbath  desecration,  but 
instead  of  imposing  a  check,  it  sinks  them  deeper 
and  deeper  in  such  desecrations ;  and  perpetuates 
and  extends  the  destruction  of  the  greatest  temporal 
advantage  of  the  weekly  Sabbath — namely,  its 
appositeness  for  spreading  morality  and  religion 
among  the  labouring  classes. 


52  THE      TORCH      OF      TIME 


II.    IN    AN    OVER-POPULATED    COUNTRY    LIKE    OURS, 
WHERE  LABOURERS  ARE    PLENTIFUL  AND  LABOUR 

SO    BADLY    REMUNERATED WHERE     SDC    DAYS* 

INCOME,    IN    MOST    CASES,    IS    INSUFFICIENT    TO 

SUPPORT     THE     LABOURER     IN     COMFORT THE 

TEMPTATION  OF  AN  ADDITIONAL  SUM  TO  HIS 
COMMON  EARNINGS,  IS  BY  FAR  TOO  POWERFUL 
TO   BE    WITHSTOOD. 

People  labouring  under  extreme  or  partial  pov- 
erty are  easily  induced  to  sell  their  sacred  birthright 
by  the  prospect  of  present  increase  of  income.  The 
pressure  of  present  want,  and  a  disposition  common 
to  most  men  to  associate  money  with  happiness, 
soon  dispose  of  the  warnings  of  conscience  against 
Sabbath  labour.  The  labourer  is  so  much  taken 
up  with  calculations  about  comforts  accruing  from 
present  gain,  that  he  allows  himself  no  time  to  re- 
flect on  the  consequences  to  which  Sabbath  labour 
leads.  He  never  counts  in  his  own  mind  that  this 
blessed  day  possesses  advantages  to  his  temporal 
happiness  and  comfort  of  far  more  value  than  if  he 
were  to  earn  twice  as  much  from  Sabbath  labour 
as  he  earns  from  his  whole  six  days  put  together. 
His  eagerness  to  grasp  the  promised  boon  disquali- 
fies him  for  perceiving  the  illusory  nature  of  the 
temptation  set  before  him.  He  discerns  not  that 
seven  days'  labour  will  very  soon  be  paid  with  the 


THE      TORCH      OP      TIME.  53 

price  he  now  receives  for  six — for  such  is  the  ten- 
dency of  Sabbath  labour  in  a  country  hke  ours. 
The  vahie  of  labour  now-a-days  is  decided  by 
what  a  man  can  subsist  on ;  and  this  subsistence  is 
generally  too  scanty  to  support  the  labourer  in 
comfort,  so  that  needy  men  are  easily  tempted  to 
labour  on  the  Sabbath  by  the  present  and  tempo- 
rary relief  which  it  offers.  He  enters  upon  a 
course,  the  end  of  which  is  destruction.  He  is 
handed  over  to  the  demoralizing  effects  of  conti- 
nuous toil.  The  church-bells  peal  in  vain  for  him 
— his  conscience  awakens  not  at  the  meaning  of 
their  sounds.  The  associations  of  home  clustering 
around  the  Sabbath,  operate  not  on  the  searing 
affections  of  his  deadening  heart— or  if  they  do 
produce  uneasy  and  longing  sensations,  this  only 
happens  when  he  has  first  commenced  to  labour 
on  that  day ;  by-and-bye  habit  reconciles  him  to 
his  condition,  until,  becoming  hardened  in  his 
course,  he  loses  all  respect  for  the  sacred  claims  of 
the  Sabbath — all  respect  and  love  for  his  wife, 
children,  or  relations — and  worst  of  all,  and  most 
to  be  deplored,  all  respect  for  God  and  himself! 
By  losing  sight  of  his  own  true  destiny  he  sinks 
in  his  own  estimation ; — labour^  however  slight, 
becomes  irksome — the  grave  is  his  only  haven  of 
rest ;  its  gaping  mouth  opens  to  receive  him ;  but 
ah !  his  soul,  though  terribly  debased,  shrinks 
from  it.  Anxious  and  dispiriting  thoughts  crowd 
upon  him ;  he  drowns  them  in  intemperance  and 


54  THE      TORCH      OP      TIME. 

debauchery — and  thus,  as  it  were,  prematurely 
precipitates  his  fall  into  the  mouth  of  that  very 
grave  which  had  previously  warned  him  of  his 
unfitness  for  eternity !  Such  is  the  true  memoir  of 
the  Sabbath  labourer ! — some  may  think  it  exag- 
gerated ;  but  who,  on  reflecting  on  the  operations 
of  human  nature,  and  retracing  the  every-day  con- 
dition of  the  labouring  classes,  as  simply,  yet 
truthfully,  set  forth  in  our  narrative  of  the  Tempo- 
ral Advantages  of  the  Sabbath,  can  doubt,  or 
charge  us  with  exaggeration?  If  there  are  any 
such,  let  them  look  into  the  state  of  morality  among 
labourers  who  have  been  employed  for  some  time  on 
the  Sabbath-day,  and  they  dare  not  impeach  our 
description  with  falsity.  The  drunkenness,  crime, 
and  sensuality  among  the  labouring  classes,  are 
living  monuments  of  the  principle,  that  labour, 
protracted,  even  on  common  days,  for  ten,  twelve, 
fourteen,  or  sixteen  hours  each  day,  destroys  not 
only  physical,  but  also  mental  and  moral  well- 
being.  Extend  this  principle  to  the  Sabbath,  and 
the  consequences  cannot  be  otherwise  than  we  have 
described ;  the  ruin  of  the  labouring  classes  would 
then  be  inevitable  and  complete.  "  All  labourers," 
it  may  be  said,  "  are  not  drunkards  or  sensualists ; 
we  find  as  good  and  exemplary  men  and  women 
amongst  them  as  we  do  among  those  whose  hands 
minister  not  unto  their  necessities."  True,  indeed, 
there  are  many  good,  and  even  pious  persons, 
among  the  sons  and  daughters  of  toil.     Our  heaj-t 


THE      TORCH      OF      TIME.  55 

warms  when  we  reflect,  that  not  only  the  world's 
estimation  of  moral  excellence  is  evinced  by  their 
conduct,  but  that  Heaven's  recognized  morality 
buds  and  flourishes  amongst  them  • 

"  Talk  they  of  morals  ?    O  thou  bleeding  Love ! 
The  grand  morality  is  love  of  Thee !" 

This  morality  develops  its  transcendent  beauty  and 
grandeur  even  in  the  midst  of  poverty  and  rags. 
It  does  not,  therefore,  follow  that  the  love  of  Jesus, 
or  the  world's  acceptation  of  moral  excellence,  is 
the  result  of  particular  conditions  in  human  exist- 
ence. There  are  good  and  bad  men  among  all 
classes ;  how,  then,  shall  we  account  for  the  exist- 
ence of  the  one  or  the  other  kind  of  morality 
among  the  labouring  classes,  when  we  affirm  the 
demoralising  tendency  of  their  common-day,  over- 
protracted  vocations  ?  Their  education  in  youth  is 
insufficient  to  preserve  them.  True  religion  and 
pure  morality  being  alien  to  human  nature,  from 
whence  do  the  labouring  people  receive  support  to 
beat  up  against  the  evil  tide  that  is  flowing  in  upon 
them  for  six  successive  days  ?  We  unhesitatingly 
affirm,  that  moral  and  religious  truth  is  not  only 
sown,  but  preserved  and  nourished  amongst  them 
by  the  influence  of  the  weekly  Sabbath  ;  therefore, 
the  labourer  who  sells  his  right  in  the  Sabbath, 
shuts  himself  out  from  moral  and  religious  instruc- 
tion, exposes  himself  to  the  degrading  tendency  of 
continuous  toil,  rebels  against  God's  laws  in  the 


THE      TORCH      OF      TIME 


physical  constitution  of  his  nature,  violates  God's 
moral  precepts,  excludes  himself  from  the  advant- 
ages of  the  Sabbath,  and  thereby  destroys  the 
constitution  of  his  nature  as  a  social  and  an  im- 
mortal being.  Surely,  then,  when  unnecessary 
labour  on  the  Sabbath  tempts  the  labourer  into 
such  a  ruinous  course,  its  rest  ought  to  be  preserved 
inviolable. 


ING  FROM  POVERTY,  IS  NOT  THE  ONLY  WAY 
BY  WHICH  THE  LABOURING  CLASSES  ARE  EX- 
POSED TO  THE  RUINOUS  COURSE  OF  EXTENDING 
THEIR   LABOURS   TO   THAT   DAY. 

The  great  evil  is,  that  they  may  be  coerced  into 
such  vitiating  conduct,  and  made  to  sin  against  the 
dictates  of  their  own  consciences.  Though  possess- 
ing a  knowledge  of  the  fearful  results  to  which 
Sabbath  labour  leads,  they  may  be  forced  to  adopt 
such  a  course.  Conscious  of  the  binding  obligation 
of  the  Fourth  Commandment,  and  deeply  impressed 
by  the  temporal  and  external  blessings  it  guar- 
anties, yet,  even  in  the  face  of  such  convictions, 
they  may  be  involuntarily  compelled  to  surrender 
their  services  when  demanded  on  the  day  of  sacred 
rest.     Let  us  illustrate  how  this  is  accomplished, 


THE      TORCH      OF      TIME.  5? 

by  referring  to  railway  labour.  While  we  par- 
ticularise, it  must  not  be  thought  that  our  remarks 
are  confined  to  the  case  about  to  be  adduced. 
Every  kind  of  unnecessary  labour  on  the  Sabbath 
exposes  the  labourer  to  the  same  species  of  coer- 
cion. We  are  only  to  state  the  particular,  that  the 
general  may  be  more  distinctly  apprehended.  A 
Railway  Company,  for  the  love  of  gain,  agree  to 
run  Sabbath  trains.  The  directors  of  such  Com- 
pany are  empowered  to  carry  such  agreement  into 
operation;  they  therefore  intimate  to  the  Company's 
Superintendent  to  proceed  in  arranging  the  pre- 
liminary details.  The  Superintendent,  in  virtue  of 
the  powers  thus  given  him,  advertises,  in  the 
newspapers  or  on  hand-bills,  that  trains  will  start 
from  such  a  place  to  such  a  place,  at  such  a  time, 
on  such  a  Sabbath,  and  will  continue  to  run  on  all 
succeeding  Sabbaths  until  further  notice.  This  is 
the  first  part  of  the  Superintendent's  business;  the 
second  is  to  instruct  the  inferior  overseers,  to  inform 
the  men  under  their  charge  that  work  is  to  be  done 
on  the  Sabbath — that  their  services  are  required  on 
that  day.  The  overseers  deliver  this  message,  or 
rather  command,  to  the  servants  under  their  charge, 
who  may  be  engine-drivers,  stokers,  guards,  porters, 
or  any  of  the  various  classes  employed  as  railway 
servants.  Let  us,  for  the  sake  of  brevity,  only  take 
one  of  these : — When  such  a  merciless  command  is 
delivered  to  the  conscientious  guard,  he  says  to  the 
overseer, "  God  forbids  labour  on  the  Sabbath  day, 


58  THE      TORCH      OP      TIME. 

and  requires  that  it  be  spent  in  holiness;  it  is  the 
only  opportunity  I  have  of  improving  myself  in 
'mind,  in  heart,  in  soul ;'  it  is  the  best  opportunity 
I  have  for  cultivating  the  affection  of  my  wife  and 
children,  or  father  and  mother,  or  sister  and  brother. 
I  could  not  justify  myself  in  sinning  thus  against 
God  and  myself,  in  conceding  to  such  an  unfeeling 
and  unjust  command."  "  Well,"  says  the  overseer, 
"the  Company  have  no  wish  to  employ  you  or  any 
other  person  against  the  dictates  of  their  own  con- 
science, but  the  iDork  must  be  done ;  and  if  you  will 
not  consent  to  do  it,  I  must  look  out  for  some  one 
who  will  do  it;  there  are  plenty  of  people  who  will 
be  glad  of  such  an  offer :  however,  as  you  are  a 
faithful  and  trustworthy  servant,  I  shall  not  thus 
abruptly  accept  your  refusal  to  labour  on  the  Sab- 
bath, but  shall  give  you  time  to  reflect;  and  I  may 
add,  that  such  labour  is  not  to  be  gratuitous,  you 
will  be  paid  for  it  in  proportion  to  your  six  days' 
wages, — that  is  an  important  consideration  ;  there- 
fore balance  all  in  your  own  mind,  and  inform  me, 
in  the  course  of  two  or  three  days,  of  the  conclusion 
you  arrive  at."  The  guard — who  is  a  young  or 
unmarried  man,  and  has  none  but  himself  to  pro- 
vide for — unhesitatingly,  and  on  the  very  spot 
where  such  conversation  occurs,  throws  up  his 
place ;  he  brands  the  conduct  of  the  Railway 
Company  as  infamous  and  unjust;  he  will  not 
submit  to  such  vassalage  and  sin,  let  the  conse- 
quences be  what  they  may.     The  guard  who  has 


THE      TORCH      OP      TIME.  59 

a  wife  and  family  to  support  is  in  a  very  different 
position.  With  a  burdened  heart  he  goes  home 
and  acquaints  his  wife  with  the  unlawful  demand 
made  on  his  sacred  birthright.  The  first  sight  of 
his  loving  wife  and  smiling  children  has  a  talis- 
manic  power  in  nerving  his  resolution  to  withstand 
this  demand ;  their  appearance  awakens  the  in- 
numerable associations  entwined  about  the  Sab- 
bath, and  which  render  it  dear  to  the  heart  of  the 
labouring  man.  The  guard  unfolds  to  his  wife  the 
unchristian  demand  made  on  his  Sabbath,  and  the 
very  act  of  revealing  it  strengthens  his  determina- 
tion to  resist  it.  When  the  tide  of  feeling  has 
ceased  to  flow,  sober  reason  places  the  consequen- 
ces of  resigning  his  situation  in  stern  reality  before 
himself  and  his  wife.  No  other  situation  presents 
itself  to  them,  nor  is  there  any  likelihood  of  one 
appearing  soon.  In  providing  for  the  wants  of  a 
rising  family,  there  is  nothing  saved  to  meet  this 
trying  emergency.  The  children  are  still  helpless ; 
their  wants  are  daily  increasing;  every  feeling  of 
the  parent's  heart  and  soul  rebels  against  exposing 
these  smiling  and  innocent  young  ones  to  starva- 
tion. Yet,  how  is  that  to  be  prevented  if  the  guard 
resigns  his  employment?  If  he  goes  idle  a  single 
week,  he  becomes  bankrupt ;  and  who  will  trust 
him  a  week's  provisions  when  he  has  no  security 
for  being  employed  on  the  succeeding  one,  or  even 
month?  He  looks  again  at  his  wife  and  children, 
and  that  look  unnerves  his  former  resolution.     As 


R^ 


60  THE      TORCH      OF      TIME. 

a  husband,  as  a  father,  as  a  man,  he  cannot  expose 
them  to  starvation.  There  is  only  one  way  of 
preventing  it,  and  that  is  to  retain  his  present 
situation  by  agreeing  to  labour  on  the  day  of  sacred 
rest.  Conscious  of  the  sin  he  is  about  to  commit, 
his  heart  rises  in  righteous  indignation  at  the 
Railway  Company  for  driving  him  to  the  dreadful 
alternative  of  choosing  between  labouring  on  the 
Sabbath,  or  starving  his  wife  and  family.  He  is 
compelled  to  accede  to  their  unjust  demands.  Let 
any  Railway  Director  or  Shareholder,  if  he  is  a 
husband  or  a  father,  suppose  himself  placed  in 
circumstances  similar  to  those  of  the  guard  we 
have  now  described,  and  then  say  whether  or  not 
the  labourer  may  be  coerced  to  extend  his  labours 
to  the  Sabbath.  If  the  heart  of  such  a  Director  or 
Shareholder  is  not  dead  to  feeling,  we  calculate  on 
his  verdict  in  support  of  our  proposition ;  namely, 
that  the  rest  of  the  Sabbath  ought  to  be  preserved 
from  all  the  encroachments  of  unnecessary  labour, 
because  there  are  people  in  every  department  of 
labour  in  which  the  labouring  classes  are  engaged, 
similarly  circumstanced  to  the  railway  guard,  and 
where  Sabbath  labour  is  required,  they  are  exposed 
to  the  same  species  of  coercion.  Every  one  knows 
that  the  intelligent,  moral,  and  religious  workman, 
is  the  first  to  be  seized,  for  this  very  obvious 
reason,  that  such  are  found  to  be  the  best,  most 
trustworthy,  and  persevering  servants.  Therefore, 
in  order  to  preserve  the  moral  and  religious  worth 


THE      TORCH      OF      TIME.  61 

of  our  labouring  population,  the  rest  of  the  Sabbath 
must  not  be  encroached  upon  by  unnecessary- 
labour. 


rV.  IN  A  GREAT  COMMERCIAL  COUNTRY  LIKE  OURS, 
WHERE  THE  COMPETITION  OF  INDIVIDUAL  INTER- 
EST IS  SO  KEEN  AND  SO  UNIVERSAL,  IF  THE  REST 
OF  THE  S^iBBATH  IS  ENCROACHED  UPON  BY  UN- 
NECESSARY LABOUR,  SUCH  ENCROACHMENTS  HAVE 
A  TENDENCY  TO  EXTEND,  NOT  ONLY  THROUGHOUT 
ONE  ENTEEIE  DEPARTAIENT  OF  LABOUR,  BUT  TO 
EVERY  OTHER  BRANCH  OF  LABOUR. 

A  precedent  has  only  to  be  established,  and  the 
enterprising  spirit  of  our  capitalists  will  seize  upon 
it,  and  account  it  a  fitting  excuse  for  all  to  go  and 
do  likewise.  They  say  they  must  do  it,  in  order 
to  keep  pace  with  their  neighbours. 

The  tendency  of  Sabbath  labour  to  increase  and 
extend  is  indeed  slow  and  gradual — but  there  lies 
its  greatest  danger ;  by  being  slow  and  gradual  it 
becomes  sure  and  certain.  It  aims  at  a  complete 
abrogation  of  the  Sabbath  to  the  labouring  classes, 
by  wresting  that  day  piecemeal  from  their  posses- 
sion. Being  a  device  of  human  selfishness,  it 
dares  not  to  manifest  itself  in  full  light  at  once. 


7* 


62  THE      TORCH      OF      TIME. 

How,  then,  do  we  discover  it  ? — is  its  appearance 
sufficiently  distinct  or  visible  to  indicate  its  exist- 
ence ?  Yes  it  is  ! — we  tremble  while  we  perceive 
it.  It  is  the  consummation  of  that  same  principle 
which  has  unwarrantably  extended  the  hours  of 
labour  on  common  days,  and  captured,  one  by  one, 
the  holidays  of  the  labouring  classes.  Parliament 
has  imposed  a  kind  of  check,  by  restricting  the 
hours  of  labour  on  common  days  to  ten  hours  each 
day,  and  guaranteeing  six  holidays  in  the  year  to 
minors  employed  in  factories  and  spinning-mills; 
but  such  interference  fully  demonstrates  our  posi- 
tion— else  whence  the  necessity  for  legislative  in- 
terference ?  Those  unprovided  for  by  the  Factory 
Act  have  no  holidays,  no  definite  hours  of  labour, 
on  which  they  can  calculate  with  certainty  for  any 
length  of  time.  When  trade  is  in  a  good  condition 
— or  what  is  generally  termed  "brisk" — the  master- 
tradesman,  finding  that  he  has  too  little  time  for 
accomplishing  his  orders  in  a  given  time  by  the  or- 
dinary hours  of  labour,  extends  these  on  common 
days  and  takes  in  holidays.  Has  the  weather  been 
unusually  changeable  and  uncongenial,  the  farmer, 
when  the  genial  period  arrives,  extends  the  com- 
mon hours  of  his  servants  ;  and  should  the  hoUday 
invite  to  plough,  to  sow,  to  reap,  or  gather  in,  it  is 
appropriated  as  if  it  had  been  a  common  day. 
When  this  takes  place  on  week-days,  it  cannot  be 
doubted,  now  that  the  precedent  for  Sabbath  labour 
is  established,  but  that  men,  in  earnest  to  seize  all 


THE      TORCH      OF      TIME.  63 

available  means  for  the  extension  of  trade  or  the 
accomplishment  of  orders  within  stipulated  periods, 
will  lay  hold  on  the  day  of  sacred  rest,  and,  hour 
after  hour,  capture  it  from  the  labouring  classes. 
Already  the  tendency  of  Sabbath  labour  to  increase 
and  extend  is  perceptible  by  the  numerous  en- 
croachments upon  its  rest  which  at  present  exist. 
It  is  not  now  confined  to  one  kind  of  traffic,  but  ex- 
tend to  many;  nor  to  one  labourer,  but  to  thousands. 
Every  new  encroachment,  while  finding  a  prece- 
dent in  those  that  have  gone  before  it,  like  some 
hifectious  pestilence  spreads  the  contagion  wider 
and  wider.  How  should  it  be  otherwise,  if  any 
unnecessary  labour  is  permitted  on  the  Sabbath  ? 
What  more  right  has  one  labourer  to  a  seventh 
day  of  rest  than  another  ? — if  taken  from  one  why 
not  taken  from  all  ? — the  security  of  all  depends 
upon  the  security  of  one.  What  more  right  has 
the  capitalist  to  purchase  or  coerce  one  hour  of  the 
labourer's  Sabbath  than  he  has  to  ten,  twelve,  or 
fourteen  ? — the  security  of  the  whole  day<lepends 
upon  the  security  of  a  single  hour.  What  more 
right  has  one  employer  to  seize  upon  the  Sabbath 
than  another  ? — if  it  is  conceded  to  one,  all  have 
an  equal  claim  to  it.  Therefore,  the  only  way  to 
protect  this  invaluable  institution,  with  its  inesti- 
mable advantages,  to  the  labouring  classes,  is  to 
preserve  its  rest  from  all  the  encroachments  of 
unnecessary  labour. 

In  conclusion.     Let  the  working  classes  open 


64  THE      TORCH      OF      TIME. 

their  eyes  to  the  fact,  that  Sabbath  labour  is  in- 
creasing and  extending ;  that  the  hght  by  which 
we  distinguish  it  is  not  now  feeble,  but  strong ;  that 
it  is  not  seen  as  by  starlight,  but  by  moonlight, 
verging  into  sunhght.  Broad  and  clear  as  is  the 
tendency  of  Sabbath  labour  to  extend  to  the  whole 
labouring  people,  they  have  still,  in  themselves,  the 
power  to  suppress  the  evil.  Let  them  rise  in 
their  collective  power,  and  they  will  consign  it  to 
eternal  night  and  darkness.  Numerous  and  gigan- 
tic as  are  the  encroachments  now  made  on  the 
sacred  day,  the  working  classes  are  still  possessed 
of  a  power  more  numerical  and  gigantic  to  crush 
all  such  innovations.  They  unite  and  confederate 
for  the  protection  of  civil  rights ;  and  will  they  not 
consolidate  their  strength  and  power  for  the  pro- 
tection of  their  sacred  birthright? — They  loudly 
call  for  Liberty ;  and  will  they  be  silent  when 
their  most  precious  liberty  is  being  assailed  and 
captured  from  them? — the  liberty  of  having  one 
whole  day  of  rest  from  bodily  toils  in  every  seven 
— the  liberty  of  worshipping  God  according  to 
conscience — the  liberty  of  spending  a  seventh  part 
of  their  time  in  the  improvement  of  their  minds, 
hearts,  and  souls — the  liberty  of  being  freemen  ! — 
for  what  were  freedom  to  them  without  a  Sabbath? 
— a  dream,  a  phantom  of  the  imagination,  or  an 
undefined  something  in  the  far,  far  distant  future ! 
— Let  them  know,  that  a  Sabbath-keeping  and  a 
Sabbjath-loving  people  may  be  enslaved,  but  that  a 


THE      TORCH      OF      TIME.  65 

Sabbath-labouring  or  a  Sabbath-desecrating  people 
never  can  be  free !  Aware  of  this,  let  them  be  up 
and  doing!  Now  is  the  time  for  action — now  the 
blow  must  be  struck  for  a  Sabbath  or  for  no  Sab- 
bath. Procrastination  now  is  dangerous — it  in- 
volves the  Sabbath  in  inevitable  destruction.  A 
little  longer,  and  their  power  to  protect  and  secure 
their  greatest  of  privileges  is  paralysed  and  vain. 
Before  they  are  all  captured,  let  them  resolve  not 
to  be  captured;  and  such  a  resolution  is  all  that  is 
required  to  protect  the  Sabbath.  There  are  many 
among  the  middle  and  higher  classes  willing  and 
eager  to  assist  them.  A  Sabbath  National  Alliance 
is  now  formed,  on  the  infallible  testimony  of  God's 
word,  that  it  is  a  sin  to  labour  on  the  Lord's-day. 
This  Alliance  has  already  given  practical  manifes- 
tation of  its  zeal,  in  attempting  to  rescue  from 
surrounding  and  increasing  innovations  the  poor 
man's  day  of  rest.  Let  the  labouring  classes  join 
this  Alliance,  and  aid  and  extend  its  usefulness. 
Let  them,  as  the  children  of  a  former  ancestry, 
reflect  that  their  fathers  preserved  it  for  them.  Let 
them,  therefore,  as  the  ancestry  of  a  future  genera- 
tion, obtain  by  legitimate  means  the  full  possession 
of  their  blessed  inheritance,  that  their  posterity  may 
enjoy  the  benefit  of  an  institution  not  only  essential 
to  their  temporal  com.fort,  but  also  equally  requisite 
to  their  eternal  well-being!  Let  no  one  imagine 
that  any  unnecessary  encroachments  on  the  Sab- 
bath  can   be   permitted  without    imperihng   this 


66  THE      TORCH      OF      TIME. 

priceless  boon.  Let  none  suppose,  while  in  pos- 
session of  a  full  Sabbath,  that  they  can  long  enjoy 
it  while  the  enemy  is  in  the  field.  The  true  prin- 
ciples of  Sabbath  conservatism  proclaim  every 
encroachment  unlawful.  We  are  our  brother's 
keeper,  is  the  motto  we  must  adopt  to  preserve  this 
right  to  ourselves.  Let  us,  therefore,  unite  to  repel 
the  enemy  ere  he  has  reached  the  battle-ground — 
invulnerable,  because  of  our  sloth  in  the  early  stage 
of  the  encounter.  Arise,  fellow-workmen,  to  a  just 
conception  of  the  danger  that  encompasses  our  own 
day.  Tear  in  pieces  the  flimsy  drapery  which 
ambitious  men  have  thrown  around  a  spirit  of 
subtle  covetousness.  Proclaim  aloud  that  God  has 
given  you  a  Sabbath,  and  that  you  will  only  re- 
linquish it  at  his  command ! 


FBONTISPIECE  TO  THE  PEARL  OP  DATS. 


"   — 1 

THE 

y 

PEARL 

OF   DAYS. 

OR 

THE 

ADVANTAGES 

OF    THE     SABBATH    TO 

THE     WORKING    CLASSES. 

BY 

A  LABOURER'S   DAUGHTER. 

WITH 

A  SKETCH  OF  TIIE  AUTHOR'S  LIFE,  BY  HERSELF. 

INTEODUCTION. 


The  circumstances  out  of  which  the  following  Essay,  with 
its  accompanying  Sketch  of  the  Author's  Life,  originated, 
are  as  remarkable  as  they  are  deeply  interesting  and  hope- 
ful. Jealous  for  the  honour  of  God's  Sabbath,  which  men 
of  the  world  were  periling — jealous  for  the  privileges  to 
man  conferred  by  the  Sabbath — jealous  for  the  labouring 
man,  whose  feelings  respecting  the  Sabbath  were  often 
misrepresented  to  his  disadvantage,  a  layman  resolved  to 
afford  an  opportunity  for  the  working  classes  to  speak 
their  own  mind  freely  on  the  matter,  and  to  bear  their  tes- 
timony to  the  blessings  and  privileges  of  the  day,  and 
thereby  to  the  glory  of  God,  the  author  and  giver  of  it. 
With  these  views,  he  put  forth  a  proposal,  about  the  end  of 
the  year  1847,  offering  three  prizes — of  £25,  £15,  and  £10, 
respectively — for  the  three  best  Essays  on  the  subject,  writ- 
ten by  labouring  men.  Although  this  is  the  first  instance 
upon  record  of  persons  of  that  class  being  invited  to  be- 
come competitors  in  literature,  and  for  literary  honours ; 
and  although  comparatively  a  very  brief  time  was  allowed 
for  preparing  and  sending  in  the  Essays,  yet  three  months 
— the  first  three  of  the  year  1848 — suflficed  to  produce  the 
astonishing  number  of  more  than  nine  hundred  and  fifty 
compositions,  manifesting  by  the  single  fact,  without  refer- 
ence to  the  merits  of  these  productions,  the  wide-spread  in- 


S2 


IV  INTRODUCTION. 

terest  and  deeply-rooted  principles  with  which  the  holy  day 
of  God  is  reverenced,  loved,  and  honoured,  by  the  labour- 
ing people. 

Amongst  the  Essays  received  was  one  from  a  female,  ac- 
companied by  a  letter,  which  will  be  found  at  the  conclu- 
sion of  this  Introduction,  and  which  the  reader  will  peruse 
with  interest,  as  indicating  the  habitual  tone  of  divine  and 
filial  piety  which  pervades  the  mind  of  the  writer.  The 
Essay  itself  was  found  to  be  correspondent  in  tone  and 
spirit  with  the  letter.  It  is,  indeed,  a  composition  of  no  or- 
dinary kind,  whether  we  regard  the  source  from  whence  it 
came,  the  instructive  matter  it  contains,  or  the  manner  in 
which  the  materials  are  worked  up  in  the  composition,  and 
the  diction  in  which  they  are  expressed.  The  adjudicators, 
although,  in  faithfulness  to  the  other  competitors,  con- 
strained to  lay  it  aside,  as  the  work  of  a  female,  yet  felt  at 
the  same  time  that  it  was  a  production  which  ought  not  to 
be  withheld  from  the  world,  and  that  it  was  a  duty  as  much 
to  humanity  as  to  the  talented  writer  herself,  not  to  suffer 
it  to  return  to  privacy  and  forgetfulness.  It  was,  therefore, 
proposed  to  her  to  allow  of  its  publication,  independently 
of  the  forthcoming  Prize  Essays  when  adjudged,  and  she 
was  requested,  at  the  same  time,  to  write  a  sketch  of  her 
life  to  prefix  to  the  Essay  when  published.  In  both  of  these 
proposals  she  willingly  acquiesced;  and  the  reader  has 
before  him  two  equally  remarkable  and  interesting  compo- 
sitions, the  Essay  and  the  Sketch.* 

To  an  ordinary  mind  the  preparation  of  the  latter  would 
have  been  even  more  diflficult  than  the  former.  Here  was 
the  opportunity  for  and  danger  of  egotism.  But  here  also 
was  the  opportunity  for  the  exliibition  and  proof  of  real 


*  It  may  be  proper  to  state,  that  in  preparing  the  Essay  and  Sketch  for  pub- 
lication, no  liberty  has  been  taken  with  tlie  author's  composition,  further  than 
to  render  the  language  correct.  For  the  satisfaction  of  any  persons  who  may 
wish  to  see  the  manuscript,  it  can  be  inspected  at  the  publishers. — Ed. 


INTRODUCTION. 


talent  and  of  genuine  piety.  To  sink  self,  and  to  elevate 
principles,  should  be  the  sole  object  of  autobiography.  To 
effect  this  in  a  Sketch  is  even  more  difficult  than  in  a  tale 
of  life.  It  requires  the  hand  of  a  master  to  give  off*  with 
the  pencil  those  few  but  telling  touches  that  convert  sur- 
face into  substance,  and  place  on  the  blank  void  forms  of 
life,  and  grace,  and  comeliness.  And  no  less  talent  does  it 
demand  to  portray  in  words  those  truthful  and  instructive 
scenes  which  the  homes  of  the  godly  present,  amid  which 
our  authoress  lived  and  was  nourished,  and  of  which  it 
may  justly  be  said  that  she  is  herself  one  of  their  noblest 
ornaments. 

Our  authoress  has  learned  by  experience,  and  has  ably 
developed  in  her  sketch,  some  of  the  most  useful  and  valu- 
able lessons  of  life.  One  of  these  is  beautifully  and  power- 
fully given  in  the  following  words :  "  How  often  are  oppor- 
tunities of  doing  small  acts  of  kindness  and  usefulness  let 
slip,  while  we  are  sighing  over  our  narrow  sphere  and  our 
limited  means  of  serving  God  or  benefiting  man !"  Would 
it  not  be  a  melancholy  and  unwholesome  sentimentahty 
that  should  sit  down  and  lament  over  itself  as  having  no 
space  capacious  enough  for  its  designs,  and  no  arena  wor- 
thy of  its  visions,  instead  of  contenting  itself  with  the 
many  opportunities  of  doing  good  which  every-day  life  sup- 
plies 1  It  may  sound,  indeed,  well  to  sigh  over  oneself  in 
such  circumstances, 


'  Full  many  a  flower  is  born  to  blush  unseen, 
And  waste  its  sweetness  on  the  desert  air;" 


and,  by  appropriating  the  idea  to  our  own  condition,  hug 
ourselves  with  the  fancy  that  we  would,  if  we  might,  make 
ourselves  widely  useful  in  our  generation ;  but  far  nobler, 
surely,  and  far  more  worthy  of  our  imitation,  is  the  devout 
and  holy  thought  expressed  in  the  following  stanza : 


VI  INTRODUCTION. 

"The  trivial  round,  the  common  task, 
Should  furnish  all  we  ought  to  ask; 
Room  to  deny  ourselves  ;  a  road 
To  bring  us,  daily,  nearer  God." 

How  admirably  are  brought  out,  in  every  part  of  this 
Sketch,  some  of  those  lessons  most  profitable  for  the  wife 
and  the  mother  to  practise  !  What  a  valuable  one,  for  ex- 
ample, is  this :  "  My  mother  used  to  say  that  it  was  disa- 
greeable and  improper  to  be  bustling  about  while  father 
was  within ;  and  when  he  was  gone  out  the  work  must  be 
done  up."  Oh  that  wives  and  mothers  understood  and 
practised  this  wisely  and  well!  What  different  scenes 
would  the  cottager's  home  present  if  they  did !  How  many 
a  man  would  be  saved  from  the  alehouse  fireside,  where 
comfort  and  convenience  are  studied  to  seduce  him  into  sin, 
if  wives  and  mothers  would  but  so  order  their  households 
that  when  the  father  returns  his  coming  shall  be  welcomed 
by  cleanliness  and  peace,  and  his  home  shall  be  made  to 
him  the  most  blessed  and  grateful  place  that  he  can  find  ! 

What  a  beautiful  family  picture  is  this  whole  Sketch  !  No 
wonder  that  our  authoress  is  capable  of  being  such  a 
daughter  when  she  has  had  such  a  mother  to  instruct  her. 
Think,  reader,  of  the  child  repeating  her  lessons  beside  the 
wash-tub,  and  gleaning  the  rudiments  of  learning  in  so 
simple  a  school,  and  from  such  a  preceptor,  and  then  turn 
to  the  pages  of  this  Sketch  and  Essay,  and  as  you  read,  and 
admire,  and  wonder,  as  you  must,  adore  humbly  as  you 
ought,  and  exclaim,  What  hath  God  wrought !  It  is  His 
work.  It  is  the  edifying  effect  and  power  of  His  grace. 
To  Him  be  all  the  glory  and  the  praise ! 


INTRODUCTION.  VII 


LETTER  REFERRED  TO  ON  PAGE  IV. 

"  Sir, — I  have  thought  it  unnecessary  to  inquire  whether  a  female  might  be 
permitted  to  enter  among  the  competitors  for  the  prizes  oflFered  in  your  adver- 
tisement. The  subject  of  the  Essay  is  of  equal  interest  to  woman  as  to  man ; 
and  this  being  the  case,  I  have  looked  upon  your  restriction  as  merely  confining 
this  effort  to  the  working  classes.  Whether  I  judge  rightly  or  not  matters  but 
little;  the  effort  I  have  made  to  gather  a  few  thoughts  together  upon  this 
subject  will  at  least  be  of  use  to  myself;  and  should  you  consider  these  sheets 
as  containing  any  thoughts  of  value,  they  are  at  your  disposal.  They  cannot 
be  expected  to  be  free  from  errors,  both  in  diction  and  orthography,  as  this  is 
the  first  effort  of  the  kind  I  have  ever  made  ;  and  I  may  say  I  am  one  of  those 
who  never  enjoyed  the  advantage  of  attending  school  in  early  days,  except  for 
two  years,  or  rather  for  one,  for  it  was  but  for  two  years  that  one  of  my  sisters 
and  myself  attended  a  sewing-school  alternately ;  one  of  us  remaining  at  home 
one  week,  to  assist  mother  with  household  labour,  or  in  attending  to  the 
younger  children,  and  going  to  school  next  week  while  the  other  remained  at 
home.  Since  that  time  I  have  been  constantly  occupied  in  household  labour, 
either  in  my  father's  house,  or  as  a  servant  in  other  families,  and  thus  I  may 
truly  say,  that  all  the  education  I  have  enjoyed  was  received  at  the  fireside  of 
hard-vvorking  parents.  While  memory  lasts  I  shall  never  forget  the  indefatigable 
exertions  of  our  beloved  mother  to  impart  intelligence  to  our  minds,  and  implant 
moral  principle  in  her  children.  How  we  used  to  enjoy  our  Sabbaths  I  When 
our  father  bent  his  knees,  with  his  children  around,  on  the  morning  of  the 
Lord's  day,  how  fervently  he  used  to  thank  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  for  its  blessed  hours !  That  father  is  gone  from  among  his  children,  but 
his  voice  yet  falls  upon  my  ear,  and  his  form  yet  rises  before  my  eye,  as  upon 
the  first  day  of  the  week  he  used  to  read  to  ns  the  sacred  page  and  lead  our 
devotions." 


SKETCH  OF  THE  AUTHOR'S  LIFE. 


The  foHowing  sketch  of  my  past  history,  which, 
at  your  request,  I  furnish,  can  be  of  httle  interest 
or  vakie,  any  farther  than  perhaps  leading  the 
minds  of  Christian  parents  properly  to  estimate  the 
importance  of  the  duties  devolving  upon  them,  and 
begetting  a  higher  appreciation  of  the  value  of  the 
weekly  rest,  as  affording  an  opportunity  to  all 
Christians,  however  poor  their  circumstances,  or 
laborious  their  employment,  of  imparting  instruc- 
tion to  their  offspring.  It  may  tend  also  to  show 
that  no  Christian  mother,  with  the  Bible  in  her 
hand,  and  possessing  the  power  of  reading  and 
understanding  the  blessed  truths  it  reveals,  can 
plead  excuse  if  she  allow  her  children  to  grow  up 
in  ignorance  of  those  truths,  the  knowledge  of 
which  would  lead  them  in  safety  and  happiness 
through  all  the  temptations  to  which  youth  is 
exposed  in  this  world  of  folly  and  wickedness. 

If  she  properly  estimates  the  importance  of  the 
blessings  imparted  by  the  knowledge  of  God,  and 


IX 


SKETCH      OF      THE 


really  feels  the  power  of  the  love  of  God  in  her 
own  heart,  poverty  may  surround  her,  the  pressure 
of  domestic  cares  may  lie  heavily  upon  her,  or  she 
may  be  engaged  in  the  most  menial  and  laborious 
employment,  but,  in  the  midst  of  all  this,  she  will 
find  opportimity  to  awaken  and  enlighten  the  young 
minds  of  her  offspring.  It  is  the  duty  of  Christian 
parents,  in  whatever  situation  in  life,  to  train  up 
their  children  in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the 
Lord ;  and  it  is  a  duty  which  they  can  entrust  to 
no  one  else  without  a  direct  violation  of  the  com- 
mand of  their  Saviour,  and  incurring  a  fearful  risk 
as  regards  the  well-being  of  their  children. 

Is  it  not  a  strange  sight,  to  see  a  Christian  parent 
so  deeply  involved  in  business,  so  engrossed  with 
the  cares  of  this  life,  or  so  occupied  with  other 
matters,  however  important,  that  he  is  compelled 
to  entrust  the  moral  and  religious  training  of  his 
children  to  a  hireling? — a  preacher  so  much  en- 
gaged in  proclaiming  the  Gospel  to  sinners  in  the 
world,  that  he  has  no  time  to  lead  his  own  little 
ones  to  the  feet  of  Jesus? — a  father  so  occupied 
with  the  improvement  of  his  neighbours,  with 
Sabbath-schools,  prayer  and  class  meetings,  or 
evening  lectures  and  sermons,  that  he  has  no 
leisure  to  lead,  in  proper  season,  the  devotions  of 
his  own  little  circle  at  home  ?  Such  a  man  substi- 
tutes his  own  way  for  the  will  of  God  ;  and,  in  so 
far  as  he  does  so,  the  consequences  will  be  seen  in 
the  future  character  of  his  children ;  and  even  he 


XI 


himself  will  suffer  loss  in  the  health  of  his  own 
soul. 

Parents,  with  the  Bible  in  their  hands,  and  the 
word  of  God  hidden  in  their  hearts,  having  the 
blessed  hours  of  Sabbath  rest  as  their  birthright, 
however  humble  their  circumstances  or  toilsome 
their  life,  can  never  be  entirely  destitute  of  an 
opportunity  for  training  and  instructing  their  off- 
spring. 

In  glancing  back  on  the  years  of  childhood,  and 
tracing  the  influences  which  have  surrounded  me 
through  youth,  I  am  convinced,  that,  in  so  far  as 
my  mind  has  been  awakened  to  intelligence,  and 
my  character  formed  to  virtue,  under  God,  .1  owe 
all  to  my  parents,  but  especially  to  my  mother. 
Her  earnest  and  indefatigable  exertions,  in  the  face 
of  difficulties  which  would  have  deterred  any 
common  mind  from  attempting  such  a  task,  to- 
gether with  her  ceaseless  w^atchfulness,  secured  for 
us  such  an  amount  of  knowledge,  and  formed  in  us 
such  habits,  as  raised  us  above  the  temptations 
which  usually  beset  youth  in  the  humble  walks  of 
life.  While  the  constant  necessity  existed,  as  soon 
as  we  were  able  to  do  anything — for  all  our  exer- 
tions toward  the  support  of  the  family  allowed  us 
little  time  to  cultivate  acquaintances,  whether  in- 
jurious or  beneficial — our  mother's  constant  en- 
deavour was,  even  through  the  very  early  years 
of  childhood,  to  keep  our  hands  and  heads  fully 
employed. 


XU  SKETCHOFTHE 

_— _     _ 

Memory  carries  me  back  to  a  period  when  my 
parents,  with  five  Uttle  ones  around  them,  tenanted 
an  obscure  garret  in  the  outskirts  of  one  of  the 
principal  towns  of  Scotland.  By  some  of  those 
vicissitudes  common  to  all,  my  father  was,  at  this 
time,  out  of  employment;  hardships  were  endured, 
pinching  want  sometimes  visited  their  fireside.  Of 
these  things  I  have  heard,  but  have  no  recollection 
of  them,  as  I  could  not  then  be  much  more  than 
four  years  old.  Yet  a  shadowy  vision  sometimes 
rises  before  me  of  a  broad  paved  street,  along 
which  I  was  running  on  before  our  father  in  joyful 
haste,  that  I  might  be  the  first  to  apprise  mother 
that  the  meeting  was  dismissed ;  but  as  to  whether 
the  place  of  assembly  we  had  just  left  was  an 
upper  chamber  where  a  handful  of  disciples  met 
together,  or  a  large  and  fashionable  edifice,  memory 
supplies  nothing.  A  dim  dreary  scene,  too,  some- 
times passes  before  me  of  some  back  yard  or  lane 
where  I  was  standing  with  my  hand  in  my  father's, 
gazing  with  childish  delight,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
with  a  feeling  of  awe  and  admiration,  upon  the 
starry  heavens.  I  know  not  what,  at  that  moment, 
led  my  eye  to  the  bright  scene  over  head ;  nor  yet 
what  fixed  these  two  incidents  of  my  childhood  so 
indelibly  upon  my  memory,  for  they  are  associated, 
in  my  mind,  with  nothing  particular  of  which  I 
ever  heard  any  one  speak;  but  they  are  almost  the 
only  recollections  I  have  of  the  short  time  spent  in 
this  place. 


author's    life.  XIU 

I  think  that  before  this  time  I  must  have  been 
pretty  far  advanced  in  reading,  as  I  have  no 
remembrance  of  ever  learning,  or  having  any  diffi- 
culty with  common  books.  Our  father,  at  the  time 
alluded  to,  was  exerting  himself  to  find  a  settled 
situation  as  a  gardener,  and,  in  the  mean  time, 
taking  whatever  work  he  could  get  in  the  small 
gardens  in  the  neighbourhood.  He  was  soon 
noticed  as  an  active  and  tasteful  gardener,  and 
received  into  the  employment  of  a  gentleman 
whose  property  lay  in  that  part  of  Scotland  known 
by  the  name  of  Strathmore,  or  "the  great  valley." 

The  dwelling  we  now  entered  was  very  plea- 
santly situated  near  a  river  called  the  South  Esk, 
which  flows  through  that  part  of  the  country. 
Between  it  and  the  highway  was  a  large  field, 
with  a  belt  of  trees  on  the  side  next  the  house  ;  on 
the  other  side  lay  the  garden;  while  beneath  the 
garden,  stretching  to  the  river,  was  what  we  used 
to  call  the  haugh,  a  flat  little  meadow. 

Our  d^iLelling  in  appearance  was  not  unlike  one 
of  those  houses  which  are  tenanted  by  farmers  in 
the  southeast  of  Scotland.  Its  dimensions,  its  blue 
slated  roof,  and  its  smooth  grass  plot,  encircled 
with  a  gravel  walk  before  the  door,  bespoke  it  the 
abode,  if  not  of  affluence,  at  least  of  competence. 
It  had  not,  when  planned,  been  intended  as  the 
abode  of  a  servant,  but  as  a  residence  for  the 
proprietor's  mother,  who  having  been  removed  by 
death,  we  were  permitted  to  occupy  it.     Had  the 


XIV  SKETCH      OF      THE 

reader  visited  that  spot  in  the  spring  of  the  year, 
when  the  young  plantations  were  arrayed  in  bright 
green,  the  music  of  wild  birds  welcoming  the 
morning,  while  the  cowslip,  the  meadow-crocus, 
and  the  primrose  studded  the  banks,  and  the  but- 
ter-ball, the  wild  geranium,  and  numberless  flowers 
besides,  were  shooting  up  amid  the  tangled  maze 
of  yellow  whins  and  broom,  wild  rose,  and  scented 
sweet  brier,  which  covered  that  little  haugh ;  or 
had  he  sauntered  down  to  the  river,  walked  along 
the  pebbles  on  its  shore,  and  seen  the  little  trout 
sparkling  in  the  sunbeam  as  it  leaped  at  the  insects 
that  sported  upon  the  surface  of  the  water,  he 
would  have  called  it  a  pleasant  dwelling-place.  It 
was  indeed  a  sunny  spot,  and  the  gay  children  who 
used  to  ramble  at  will  amid  its  beauties,  were  as 
happy  a  little  band  as  could  have  been  found. 

Yet,  freely  though  they  wandered  among  the 
surrounding  pleasure-grounds,  they  were  carefully 
taught  to  avoid  putting  their  foot  in  an  improper 
place,  or  setting  forth  a  hand  to  injure  shrub  or 
tree,  and  this  in  itself  was  calculated  to  form  and 
strengthen  in  us  a  habit  of  self-restraint.  Even  in 
infancy  our  parents  began  our  moral  training ;  a 
prompt  and  cheerful  submission  to  parental  autho- 
rity was  the  first  habit  they  sought  to  form,  and 
this  once  accomplished,  the  instruction  and  training 
of  youth  are  comparatively  easy.  As  soon  as  we 
became  capable  of  understanding  the  reasons  which 
influenced  them  in  their  conduct  towards  us,  we 


author's    life.  XV 

were  taught  that  our  parents  were  the  guardians 
placed  over  us  by  our  Creator,  in  his  kind  care  for 
our  welfare,  and  that  it  was  his  will  that  to  them 
we  should  in  all  things  cheerfully  submit  ourselves 
without  hesitation  or  murmuring. 

I  have  often  thought,  when  I  have  seen  children 
allowed  to  demand  a  reason  for  every  trifling  order, 
numerous  reasons  and  excuses  having  to  be  dis- 
cussed, and  thus  a  long  altercation  entered  into  be- 
tween parent  and  child,  in  the  shape  of  reasoning, 
before  a  lesson  could  be  attended  to,  or  the  most 
trivial  command  obeyed,  what  an  incalculable 
amount  of  evil  is  done  to  children  by  such  treat- 
ment !  Not  only  is  time  wasted,  but  self-will  is 
fostered,  and  a  habit  of  tardy  performance  of  duty  ' 
induced. 

Few  parents  seem  to  comprehend  how  soon  even 
a  very  young  child  may  be  made  to  understand 
such  language  as  this :  God,  who  lives  in  heaven, 
made  us  all ;  he  gave  mother  her  little  son  that  I 
might  take  care  of  him,  be  kind  to  him,  and  teach 
him  to  be  good.  He  says  little  children  must  obey 
father  and  mother,  and  he  would  be  angry  with 
me  and  punish  me  if  I  allowed  my  boy  to  be 
naughty  and  '  disobedient.  Such  language  firmly 
and  kindly  spoken  by  a  parent,  even  to  a  very 
young  child,  and  steadily  and  consistently  acted 
upon,  will  very  soon  subdue  the  self-wilt  of  the 
most  wayward,  and  thus  render  future  training 
easy  to  both  parent  and  child. 


T2 


XVI  SKETCH      OF      THE 

Such  was,  in  principle,  the  training  to  which  we 
Avere  subjected  in  our  early  years.  Obedience — 
immediate,  cheerful  obedience,  and  the  strictest  re- 
gard to  truth,  lay  at  the  foundation  of  all  our  other 
training.  A  thousand  little  follies,  mistakes,  and 
even  graver  faults  might  be  passed  over,  but  diso- 
bedience and  falsehood  were  unpardonable.  Yet 
there  was  nothing  of  sternness  or  severity  in  the 
conduct  of  our  parents  towards  us.  Perhaps  no 
mother  ever  lavished  more  fond  caresses  upon  her 
children,  or  exerted  herself  more  to  make  their 
time  pass  happily,  and  no  father  was  ever  more 
anxious  to  secure  the  comfort  and  happiness  of  his 
family. 

Pleasantly  did  the  days  and  hours  pass  over  us, 
during  our  residence  in  this  secluded  spot.  There 
was  no  school  within  reach,  and  if  there  had  been 
our  father's  small  income  would  not  have  allowed 
our  education  to  be  paid  for,  without  greatly  dimi- 
nishing the  comforts  of  the  family,  therefore  it  had 
to  be  attended  to  at  home.  One  by  one,  we  used 
to  take  our  place  beside  our  mother,  read  a  short  les- 
son, have  the  larger  words  explained  to  us,  when  our 
mother  would  take  the  book  and  read  it  over  again 
slowly  and  distinctly,  that  we  might  the  better  un- 
derstand what  we  had  been  reading ;  and  then  we 
were  at  liberty  to  indulge  in  active  and  healthful 
amusement,  or  we  were  engaged  in  some  useful 
and  necessary  employment.  Four  times  a  day, 
usually,  each  of  us  had  our  short  lesson ;  and  if  it 


author's    life.  xvii 

be  considered  that  the  whole  of  the  labour  of  the 
house  devolved  upon  our  mother,  it  will  be  be- 
lieved that  this  could  be  no  light  task.  Nothing, 
however,  was  allowed  to  interrupt  our  lessons:  and 
it  was  no  uncommon  thing  to  see  her  busy  at  the 
washing-tub  while  we  by  turns  took  our  place 
beside  her.  One  child  would  be  found  attending  to 
the  baby,  another  gathering  sticks  and  keeping  the 
fire  alive,  a  third  engaged  in  reading,  and  a  fourth 
bringing  water  from  a  pure,  soft  spring,  at  some 
distance  from  the  house;  while  our  eldest  brother 
assisted  father  in  the  garden. 

Our  morning  lesson  was  usually  from  the  Scrip- 
tures, but  throughout  the  day  from  other  books. 
Our  parents  were,  themselves,  as  eager  to  obtain 
knowledge  as  they  were  anxious  to  impart  it  to  us. 
An  hour  was  allowed  for  meals :  when  our  father 
came  to  breakfast  or  dinner,  as  soon  as  the  repast 
was  finished,  (and  a  working  man  in  health  does 
not  usually  loiter  over  his  meals,)  our  mother  used 
to  read  aloud  till  the  hour  was  finished,  either  with 
the  youngest  child  upon  her  knee,  or,  if  it  was  in 
the  cradle,  knitting  while  she  read.  She  used  to 
say,  that  it  was  disagreeable  and  improper  to  be 
bustling  about  while  father  was  within ;  and  when 
he  was  gone  out,  the  work  must  be  done  up. 

At  these  times,  books  of  every  kind  that  came  to 
hand  were  read,  unless,  indeed,  there  was  in  their 
language  or  morality  something  very  bad.  Nor 
were  any  of  us,  so  far  as  I  recollect,  ever  restricted 


XVlll  SKETCH      OF      THE 

in  our  reading;  books  of  all  kinds,  which  came 
within  our  reach,  were  free  to  us.  Some  may  be 
disposed  to  condemn  this  laxity,  as  they  may  con- 
sider it ;  but  with  the  hmited  means  our  parents 
possessed  of  purchasing  books,  and  being  far  dis- 
tant from  any  town  or  village  where  they  might 
have  had  a  choice  from  a  library,  it  was  not 
strange  that  all  that  by  any  means  came  to  hand 
should  be  eagerly  perused.  Books  were  not  then  so 
plentiful,  nor  so  various,  as  at  present. 

Well  do  I  remember  my  brother  finding  a  torn 
leaf  of  a  little  school-book  in  a  bush  in  the  haugh. 
It  had  been  caught  there  when  the  stream  was 
swollen  by  heavy  rains.  What  a  prize  it  was! 
one  by  one,  we  committed  it  to  memory,  while 
stretched  upon  the  daisied  sward,  during  the  sunny 
hours  of  a  summer  Sabbath-day ;  and  I  do  not 
believe  that  there  is  one  of  the  young  group  who 
then  learned  the  beautiful  hymn  that  stray  leaf 
contained,  who  does  not  retain  its  simple  words 
indelibly  impressed  upon  the  memory,  and  feel  in 
a  renewed  heart  the  influences  of  the  blessed  truths 
taught  in  its  lines.     It  was  the  hymn  beginning, 


"  Among  the  deepest  shades  of  night, 
Can  there  be  One  who  sees  my  way  ?" 


If  our  parents'  plan  of  reading,  and  allowing  us 
to  read,  all  that  came  in  the  way,  had  any  danger 
in  it,  it  was  in  our  case  counteracted  by  the  free 


author's     life.  Ji^lX 

conversation  about  what  was  read,  which  usually- 
followed,  and  by  the  duty  constantly  inculcated, 
and  practised  by  themselves,  of  reading  and  search- 
ing the  Scriptures  as  the  standard  by  which  every 
practice,  principle  and  opinion,  in  religion  or  mo- 
rality, must  be  tested.  We  were  taught  to  view 
the  Bible  as  the  words  of  an  infallible  Teacher,  by 
which  the  instructions  of  every  other  were  to  be 
tried,  and  only  to  be  received  in  so  far  as  they  were 
in  accordance  with  this  heaven-descended  guide. 
We  were,  thus  early,  led  to  analyse  what  we  read, 
to  exercise  our  understandings  upon  whatever 
came  in  our  way,  and  to  receive  nothnig  as  truth, 
until  it  had  been  put  to  the  test  of  the  Divine 
word. 


THE    SABBATH   OF   A    SCOTTISH    COTTAR. 

Our  Sabbaths  were  our  happiest  days;  we  were 
near  no  place  of  pubUc  worship — not  so  near,  at 
least,  as  to  permit  any  of  the  children  often  to  at- 
tend. As  soon  as  we  were  dressed  and  had  break- 
fasted, family  prayer  was  attended  to,  and  then  our 
father  would  point  out  some  hymn  or  passage  of 
Scripture  which  he  wished  us  to  learn,  when  we 
would  sally  forth,  book  in  hand,  in  different  direc- 
tions, one  to  stretch  himself  upon  the  soft  grass  in 
the  field  close  by,  another  to  pace  backward  and 


XX  SKETCH      OF      THE 

forward  on  the  pleasure  walk,  or  to  find  a  seat  in 
the  bough  of  an  old  bushy  tree;  while  another 
would  seek  a  little  summer-house  our  father  had 
made  of  heather,  and  seated  round  with  the  twisted 
boughs  of  the  glossy  birch,  each  reading  aloud  till 
the  allotted  lesson  was  thoroughly  fixed  upon  our 
minds.  If  the  day  was  wet,  or  if  it  was  the  winter 
season,  we  would  gather  around  the  table  by  the 
window.  During  the  afternoon,  mother  would 
read  to  us,  or  all  of  us,  father  and  mother  included, 
read  by  turns;  questions  were  then  asked,  and 
conversation  entered  into,  about  what  we  had  been 
reading. 

It  was  upon  one  of  these  occasions,  when  some 
remarks  were  made  by  one  of  my  parents  in  endeav- 
ouring to  call  our  attention  to  the  truth  that  we  must 
be  changed,  renewed  in  the  image  of  God;  or,  to 
take  up  the  simple  figurative  expression  then  made 
use  of,  that  we  must  have  new  hearts,  else  we  never 
could  be  happy  with  our  Father  in  heaven,  that  an 
impression  was  made  upon  my  mind,  never  to  be 
effaced.  From  that  hour,  through  all  my  follies  and 
all  my  waywardness,  the  thought  of  that  new 
heart  still  haunted  me,  until  I  indeed  found  peace 
with  God  through  Jesus  Christ,  and  felt  the  renew- 
ing power  of  the  truth  of  God. 

Viewing  the  practice  of  allowing  children  to 
consider  their  lessons  as  a  part  of  their  amusement, 
as  pernicious  in  its  tendency,  as  calculated  to  in- 
duce a  habit  of  trifling  with  serious  things,  and  to 


LIFE.  XXI 

form  a  giddy,  frivolous  character,  our  parents  never 
permitted  anything  like  levity  in  attending  to  our 
lessons.  We  never  were  allowed  to  consider  them 
as  a  recreation,  but  as  serious,  though  cheerful 
employment,  which  musi  never  be  trifled  with,  but 
seriously  and  earnestly  engaged  in.  A  uniform 
veneration  for  the  word  of  God  was  evinced  by 
themselves,  and  if  we  read  or  repeated  any  part  of 
it,  we  were  taught  to  do  so  seriously;  if  a  hymn 
was  recited,  or  any  piece  in  which  the  name  of  our 
Creator  might  occur,  we  were  accustomed  to  do  so 
in  a  solemn  and  attentive  manner. 

We  had  been  about  six  years  in  this  place,  when 
my  father's  master  died,  and  his  lady  kindly  re- 
commended him  to  her  brother,  who  was  in  want 
of  a  gardener.  We  now  removed  to  the  east  of 
Scotland;  and  our  dwelling,  until  the  death  of  the 
former  gardener,  who  was  laid  aside  by  age,  was 
two  rooms,  rented  for  us,  in  the  adjoining  village. 
About  two  years  after  our  arrival,  his  decease 
allowed  us  to  remove  to  what  was  to  us  a  pleasanter 
abode,  as  being  a  little  more  secluded,  but  other- 
wise possessing  little  advantage.  There  several 
of  us  attended  a  female  school,  supported  by  the 
lady,  for  the  instruction  of  the  children  of  servants 
upon  the  estate. 

Our  attendance,  from  various  causes,  was  by  no 
means  regular.  The  necessity  for  one  of  us  remain- 
ing at  home,  to  assist  our  mother,  prevented  regular 
attendance,  and  the  change  from  a  dry  inland  situa- 


XXU  SKETCH      OF      THE 

tion  to  a  low,  damp  locality,  upon  the  east  coast, 
so  affected  our  health  that  for  many  years  the  spring 
of  the  year  turned  our  dwelling  almost  into  an  hos- 
pital. The  loss  of  time  and  expense  incident  upon 
sickness,  in  our  circumstances,  were  keenly  felt  5 
however,  experience  gradually  taught  us  how  to 
manage  sickness  without  so  much  medical  attend- 
ance as  we  at  first  required.  My  brothers  procured 
employment  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  I  entered 
the  house  of  my  father's  master. 

I  had  little  relish  for  the  society  I  was  thrown 
into  in  this  place ;  all  my  habits  and  pursuits  were 
at  entire  variance  with  what  my  fellow-servants 
practised,  though  the  light  of  the  Gospel  had  not 
yet  entered  my  mind — it  was  only  struggling  for 
an  entrance. 

When  I  now  look  back  to  that  period  of  mental 
conflict,  I  am  convinced  that  my  darkness  and  diffi- 
culty arose,  not  from  any  mystery  thrown  around 
the  beautiful  simplicity  of  the  Gospel  by  my  teach- 
ers, but  that  I  entertained  a  secret  unwillingness  to 
yield  up  my  own  will  and  my  own  wishes ;  my 
heart  was  divided — I  was  striving  to  serve  God 
and  Mammon ;  the  love  of  the  world,  and  the 
things  of  the  world,  shut  out  the  light  of  the  glo- 
rious Gospel,  and  it  was  not  till  my  heart  was  sub- 
dued by  the  love  of  God,  till. I  became  willing  to 
do,  or  be,  or  submit  to,  anything  which  God  re- 
quired, that  I  found  peace.  Then  I  saw  God  as  my 
Father  in  Jesus,  receiving  me  freely  through  him. 


author's     life.  XXlll 

The  burden  of  guilt  was  removed,  and  I  was  led 
in  the  paths  of  obedience  by  love. 

I  had  been  a  few  years  in  my  situation,  when  my 
mother's  health  being  very  much  impaired,  I  felt  it 
my  duty  to  return  home.  There  were  now  ten  of 
us,  besides  our  father  and  mother.  My  eldest  bro- 
ther was  employed  in  the  garden,  my  second 
worked  with  a  tradesman  in  the  neighbourhood, 
and  two  of  my  sisters  were  employed  in  the  family 
I  had  left,  while  five  younger  brothers  and  sisters 
were  at  school.  The  eldest  of  these  was  soon  after 
engaged  by  the  village  teacher  as  his  assistant. 

When  at  home,  our  Sabbaths  were  spent  much 
in  the  same  manner  as  formerly,  only  we  had  now 
the  opportunity  of  attending  public  worship,  and 
instead  of  merely  conversing,  we  had  begun  to  try 
and  commit  our  thoughts  to  writing.  Our  parents 
would  request  us  to  state  our  reasons  for  certain 
parts  of  our  belief,  or  our  ideas  of  the  meaning  of 
certain  passages  of  Scripture.  We  would  also  often 
exert  ourselves  to  give  expression  to  our  thoughts 
in  a  verse  or  two  of  poetry.  At  these  times  several 
of  us  would  apply  our  minds  to  one  subject,  and  it 
was  interesting  to  observe  the  different  forms  our 
thoughts  would  assume. 

Our  mother's  health  was  re-established,  and  our 
circle  of  acquaintance  widened,  but  not  much,  for 
few  in  the  sam.e  walk' in  life  as  ourselves  sympa- 
thized with  us  in  our  pursuits,  and  we  had  as  little 
relish  for  theirs.    Our  time  fully  occupied,  we  never 


XXIV  SKETCH      OF      THE 

felt  the  power  of  the  temptations  to  evil  to  which 
young  persons  in  the  same  circumstances  are  usu- 
ally exposed ;  we  had  heen  carefully  taught  in 
early  childhood  that 

"  Satan  finds  some  mischief  still, 
For  idle  hands  to  do  ;" 

and  idle  empty  hearts,  too,  he  will  fill  with  sin  and 
folly.  I  firmly  believe  that  the  only  safety  from 
temptation  in  this  world  of  sin,  in  this  state  of 
weakness,  is  to  have  our  hearts  full  of  the  love  of 
God,  our  understandings  enlightened  by  the  truth 
of  God,  and  our  hands  actively  engaged  in  what- 
ever useful  employment  the  providence  of  God 
places  within  our  reach,  never  sighing  over  our  li- 
mited opportunities  of  doing  good,  never  repining 
that  we  are  not  placed  in  situations,  and  endowed 
with  talents,  to  do  and  sufi"er  great  things  for  the 
cause  of  Christ,  or  fretting  because  our  opportuni- 
ties of  improvement  are  few  and  small. 

This  has  been  my  most  besetting  sin,  and  the 
most  powerful  temptation  to  which  I  have  been 
exposed,  and,  so  far  as  it  has  prevailed,  it  has  les- 
sened my  usefulness  and  retarded  my  improvement. 
Could  we  comprehend  how  great  is  the  blessedness 
of  being  permitted  to  be  fellow-workers  with  God, 
we  should  not  thus  trifle  with  the  opportunities 
afl'orded  us  of  doing  what  we  can,  but  feeling  that 
we  are  called  to  an  honour  and  felicity  far  above 


— I 

LIFE.  XXV 


anything  we  can  deserve,  eagerly  seize  the  shght- 
est,  if  it  be  but  to  whisper  a  word  of  truth  in  the 
ear  of  the  poorest  child,  to  hire  on  and  assist  some 
ignorant  one  to  spell  out  and  understand  a  passage, 
a  phrase,  or  even  a  word  of  the  book  of  God,  or 
even  to  minister  to  the  comfort  and  happiness  of 
those  around  us  in  the  things  of  this  life.  Thus 
our  Father  in  heaven  stooped  to  lavish  kindness 
and  care  upon  man's  mortal  frame,  to  throw  the 
sweets  of  summer  at  his  feet,  and  hang  the  luxu- 
ries of  autumn  overhead,  to  enamel  the  field,  to 
paint  the  flower,  and  carve  the  leaf,  and  shall  we 
disdain  to  lay  hold  of  every  opportunity  of  minis- 
tering in  the  slightest  degree,  or  in  the  humblest 
Vv^ay,  to  the  comfort  and  enjoyment  of  those  around 
us  ?  And  yet  how  often  are  opportunities  of  doing 
small  acts  of  kindness  and  usefulness  let  slip,  while 
we  are  sighing  over  our  narrow  sphere  and  our 
limited  means  of  serving  God  and  benefitting 
man  ! 

For  a  considerable  time  our  family  circle  was 
unbroken  ;  however,  by  the  marriage,  at  .different 
times,  of  four  members  of  the  family,  six  only  re- 
mained with  our  parents.  Sorrow  might  have  had  a 
resting-place  in  the  bosoms  of  some  of  that  family 
circle,  but  to  the  eye  of  lookers-on  they  were  happy 
as  ever.  But  change,  death,  and  sorrow  were  to 
come.  Our  beloved  father  was  suddenly  and  unex- 
pectedly removed  from  among  us,  and  a  long 
course  of  illness  in  the  family  followed  on  his  de- 


XXVI  SKETCH      OF      THE 

parture.  Illness  prevented  for  a  time  our  removal 
from  the  abode  which  had  so  long  sheltered  us,  and 
where  we  had  spent  so  many  happy  days. 

At  this  time,  however,  we  all  recovered ;  but 
shortly  after  our  removal  to  another  residence  five 
of  us  were  again  prostrated  by  fever,  and  our* 
youngest  sister — our  gentle,  quiet,  affectionate  sis- 
ter, she  who  lived  but  for  the  happiness  of  those 
around  her — was  removed. 

I  am  now  residing  with  three  sisters  and  our 
youngest  brother,  under  the  roof  of  our  widowed 
mother.  Other  two  relatives  live  with  us,  and  I  am 
still  engaged  in  my  old  occupation  of  managing 
the  house,  which  I  have  never  quitted  since  I  re- 
turned on  account  of  my  mother's  health,  except 
for  about  two  years,  when  I  was  in  the  service  of 
others. 

Many  sources  of  enjoyment  and  comfort  have 
been  removed,  but  the  spring  to  which  our  beloved 
and  revered  parents  led  us  in  our  early  years,  that 
fountain  whence  issued  our  sweetest  and  purest 
enjoyments,  is  still  open  to  us,  even  the  well  of 
living  waters  which  never  can  be  dried  up,  and 
though  those  loved  ones  are  departed,  and  we  can- 
not but  feel  the  loss  of  their  society,  we  are  happy 
in  the  hope  of  soon  meeting  them  where  there  are 
pleasures  for  evermore.  Religion — the  knowledge 
of  God — has  been  to  us  our  strength  and  our  hap- 
piness, the  source  of  all  we  have  enjoyed  worth 
calling  enjoyment ;  it  has  been  the  sunshine  which, 
L, . 


author's     life.  XXVll 

in  the  hour  of  prosperity,  has  made  earth  fair  unto 
us  as  the  bowers  of  Eden,  and  when  the  darkness 
of  adversity  encompassed  us,  it  has  been  the  star 
whose  beaming  indicated  the  approach  of  the 
morning's  brightness. 


I 

I 

U2 


THE  PEARL  OF  DAYS, 


state 
of  existence,  like  the  lower  ani- 
mals, to  draw  his  chief  happiness 
from  the  indulgence  of  his  appetites,  or  to  be  led 
by  the  blind,  but  unerring  impulse  of  instinct,  to 
his  chief  good.  He  is  endowed  with  reasoning 
powers  and  moral  sentiments,  which  require  to  be 
enlightened  and  exercised,  in  order  to  their  proper 
direction  and  healthful  development.  His  happi- 
ness is  as  inseparably  connected  with  the  cultivation 
and  exercise  of  the  faculties  of  his  mind,  as  it  is  with 
the  healthful  development  and  proper  exercise  of 
his  bodily  organs.     We  meet  with  abundant  proof 


29 


30  THE      PEARL      OP      DAYS. 

of  this  in  the  state  of  savage  tribes,  who  shelter 
themselves  in  clay-built  hovels,  wrap  themselves 
in  the  skins  of  beasts,  and  obtain  a  precarious  sub- 
sistence from  the  scanty  produce  of  the  uncultivated 
ground,  or  the  flesh  of  wild  animals.  If  we  com- 
pare their  means  of  sustaining  life,  their  sources  of 
enjoyment,  their  religious  worship,  their  daily 
habits,  and  their  daily  labours,  in  a  word,  their 
whole  state,  with  the  state  of  a  civilized  and 
enlightened  community — even  could  we  bring  our- 
selves to  look  upon  man  as  merely  an  inteUigent 
and  improvable  animal,  formed  exclusively  for  this 
present  life — we  are  irresistibly  led  to  the  conclu- 
sion, that  whatever  tends  to  elevate  or  refine  his 
nature,  to  give  to  his  reasoning  faculties  and  his 
moral  sentiments  a  •  controlling  power  over  his 
appetites  and  propensities,  is  of  vast  importance  to 
his  well-being.  It  guards  him  from  evils  to  which, 
while  his  animal  nature  is  left  without  due  restraint 
from  his  higher  faculties  and  sentiments,  he  is  ex- 
posed, opens  to  him  sources  of  enjoyment,  and 
discovers  supplies,  of  which,  while  his  intellectual 
nature  is  uncultivated,  he  is  incapable  of  avaihng 
himself 

The  labour  to  which,  in  the  present  state  of 
society,  the  majority  of  the  working  population  of 
our  country  is  subjected,  in  order  to  obtain  their 
subsistence,  is  of  that  incessant  and  tasking  nature, 
which,  when  the  daily  hours  of  toil  are  closed, 
leaves  the  system  too  much  exhausted  for  mental 


THE      PEARL      OP      DAYS.  31 

application  or  intellectual  enjoyment.  Hence, 
among  those  of  the  labouring  classes  who  are  not 
led  by  religious  principle  to  avail  themselves  of 
the  opportunities  for  self-improvement  which  the 
weekly  rest  affords,  we  find,  with  comparatively 
few  exceptions,  low  and  degrading  pursuits  the 
principal  sources  of  their  amusement;  while  their 
highest  enjoyments  are  derived  from  the  gratifica- 
tion of  their  appetites  and  propensities.  Nor  is 
this  strange ;  no  one  who  has  for  any  considerable 
length  of  time  been  subjected  to  severe  and  unre- 
mitting toil,  whose  employment  called  for  the 
exertion  of  his  muscular  power  till  real  fatigue 
ensued,  will  deny,  that,  while  in  such  a  state,  man 
is  equally  incapable  of  availing  himself  of  the  more 
rej&ned  pleasure  of  social  intercourse,  or  of  the 
improvement  to  be  derived  from  mental  applica- 
tion; that  the  craving  is  for  animal  gratification,  or 
nervous  excitement;  and  that  a  continued  routine 
of  such  labour,  without  the  seventh-day  rest,  would 
soon  sink  the  labouring  population  into  a  condition 
worse  than  that  of  absolute  barbarism.  This  is  no 
merely  speculative  theory;  we  have  only  to  enter 
into  social  intercourse  with  those  around  us,  to 
meet  v/ith  more  t?ian  abundant  proofs  of  its  reality. 
Were  it  possible,  then,  to  view  man  as  only 
formed  for  this  world — as  a  mere  link  in  the  chain 
of  causation — doing  his  httle  part,  enjoying  his 
brief  existence,  and  then  reduced  again  to  his 
original  elements,  passing   away  alike  forgetting 


32  THE      PEARL      OF      DAYS. 

and  forgotten ;  and  were  we  to  regard  the  Sabbath 
as  merely  a  civil  institution,  the  appointment  of 
human  government;  even  thus  separated  from  all 
its  religious  relations,  it  would,  were  it  possible  for 
man  destitute  of  the  knowledge  of  God,  to  improve 
the  opportunities  afforded  by  it,  confer  benefits 
upon  working  men  which  they  could  not  otherwise 
obtain.  The  Sabbath  limits,  to  some  extent,  the 
power  of  employers,  whom  selfishness  and  avarice, 
in  not  a  few  instances,  have  rendered  alike  regard- 
less of  the  comfort  and  the  health  of  their  servants; 
and  secures  to  those  whose  daily  avocations  re- 
quire their  absence  from  the  family  circle,  the 
pleasures  and  the  comforts  of  home;  the  softening 
and  refining  influence  of  family  relations  and 
domestic  intercourse.  Its  rest  refreshes  and  invi- 
gorates the  physical  constitution,  and  afl'ords  time 
to  apply  the  mind  to  the  attainment  of  useful 
knowledge;  it  ought  therefore  to  command  the 
respect  of  all  who  are  sincerely  desirous  of  promot- 
ing the  improvement  of  the  working  population. 

But  it  is  impossible  thus  to  regard  man.  Man 
has  a  spiritual,  never-dying,  as  surely  as  he  has  an 
animal  and  mortal  nature,  which  act  and  re-act 
upon  each  other,  so  that  the  well-being  of  the  one 
is  essential  to  the  well-being  of  the  other.  He, 
therefore,  who  would  confine  man's  views  to  this 
world,  and  limit  his  endeavours  after  happiness  to 
the  present  life,  snatches  from  him,  along  with  the 
hopes   of  the   future,  the   riches   of  the   present. 


THE      PEARL      OF      DAYS.  33 

Debarred  from  his  Father's  house  and  his  Father's 
table,  he  will  soon  be  wallowing  in  the  mire  of 
ignorance  and  vice,  and  feeding  on  the  husks  of 
sensual  indulgence.  He  who  chains  man  to  con- 
tinuous and  unremitting  exertion  of  his  physical 
system,  unfits  his  mind  for  activity,  and  degrades 
him  to  a  condition  little  above  that  of  a  beast  of 
burden.  The  Sabbath,  then,  must  be  viewed  in 
its  relation  to  every  part  of  man's  nature,  in  its 
influence  upon  him  as  a  whole,  before  we  can  fully 
appreciate  even  the  merely  temporal  benefits  it  is 
calculated  to  confer  upon  the  human  family. 

Some  have  said,  that  another  arrangement  would 
be  more  beneficial, — that,  were  more  time  for  re- 
pose allotted  to  each  day  without  a  Sabbath,  the 
purposes  of  Sabbath  rest  would  be  more  fully  at- 
tained. Were  the  Sabbath  a  human  institution, 
appointed  by  earthly  legislators,  for  purposes  relat- 
ing to  this  life,  this  point  might  be  open  to  discus- 
sion. As  it  is  not  the  institution  of  man,  however, 
but  that  of  our  all-wise  Creator,  I  shall  merely  ask 
those  who  advocate  such  a  change,  how  they 
propose  to  bring  it  about,  and  how  preserve  it, 
when  once  obtained.  Is  it  not  that  the  Sabbath 
claims  to  be  an  institution  of  Heaven,  and  thus 
laying  hold  of  man's  conscience,  ensures  attention 
to  its  demands  from  all  who  fear  God  and  tremble 
at  his  word — is  it  not  its  appearing  in  this  character 
which  secures  to  it  any  degree  of  attention  and 
respect  from  society?     It  is  the  influences  of  the 


34  THE      PEARL      OF      DAYS. 

Sabbath  which  will  yet  introduce  a  better  regulated 
system  of  labour  during  the  week,  and  he  who 
would  abolish  it  as  a  step  towards  such  an  im- 
provement, flings  away  the  most  safe  and  certain 
means  of  accomplishing  his  object. 

It  is  only  by  the  advancement  of  the  labouring 
classes  themselves  in  intelligence  and  civiUzation, 
that  any  really  important  or  beneficial  change  can 
ever  take  place  in  the  regulation  of  labour ;  but 
even  were  such  a  change  effected,  were  the  hours 
of  daily  toil  considerably  shortened,  would  there 
not  still  be  abundant  room  for  a  Sabbath  ?  How 
are  the  moral  and  intellectual  character,  the  tastes 
and  habits  of  working  men  to  be  elevated,  without 
the  opportunities  and  the  influences  of  this  institu- 
tion? 

He  who  would  abolish  the  Sabbath,  and  distri- 
bute its  hours  among  the  days  of  the  week,  that 
he  might  increase  the  comfort  and  improve  the 
character  and  the  condition  of  working  men,  would 
act  as  a  builder  would  do,  who  should  dig  up  the 
foundations  of  a  house  that  he  might  obtain  mate- 
rials wherewith  to  finish  its  upper  story.  Religion, 
like  the  Father  of  lights,  from  whom  it  emanates, 
bestows  abundance  of  blessings  upon  many  who 
know  not  the  bounteous  hand  from  whence  they 
come ;  and  the  Sabbath,  one  of  its  most  glorious 
and  beneficent  institutions,  confers  numerous  bene- 
fits even  upon  that  portion  of  society  who,  trifling 
with  its  sacred  obligations,  and  spurning  its  salu- 


THE      PEARL      OF      DAYS.  35 

tary  restraints,  fail  to  reap  from  it  that  amount  of 
good  which  it  is  so  well  calculated  to  afford  them. 
We  can  form  no  just  estimate  of  what  the  con- 
dition and  circumstances  of  the  human  race  would 
have  been,  if  left  entirely  destitute  of  religion,  from 
our  intercourse  with  those  who,  though  perversely 
refusing  submission  to  its  government,  have,  while 
their  being  was  dawning,  their  mind  and  habits 
forming,  been  surrounded  by  its  light  and  influ- 
ences, and  who,  in  their  childhood  and  youth,  have 
partaken  largely  of  the  blessings  which  this  heaven- 
bestowed  institution,  the  Christian  Sabbath,  aff"ords. 
No  ;  it  is  only  from  the  condition  and  character  of 
those  tribes  of  mankind  who  have  little  or  no  ves- 
tige of  revelation  among  them,  that  we  are  enabled 
to  form  a  correct  idea  of  what  our  state  would  have 
been,  had  the  pure  light  of  Christianity  never 
dawned  upon  us.  So,  in  hke  manner,  in  judging 
of  the  importance  of  this  Divine  institution,  we 
must  compare  the  condition  and  the  habits  of  a 
labouring  population  who  have  never  known  a 
Sabbath,  whose  bodies  the  Sabbath  rest  has  never 
refreshed,  and  whose  minds  Sabbath  instruction 
and  Sabbath  exercise  have,  to  no  extent,  strength- 
ened or  cultivated,  awakened  or  enhghtened  ; — we 
must  compare  their  character  and  condition,  their 
hearths  and  homes,  with  the  hearths  and  homes, 
the  state  and  character,  not  of  the  mere  Sabbath- 
sleeper,  or  Sabbath-dresser,  or  even  of  the  mere 
church-attender  or  sermon-hearer,  but  of  those  who, 


I     36  THE      PEARL      OF      DAYS. 

with  activity  and  energy,  avail  themselves  of  all 
the  opportunities  of  self-improvement  and  family 
culture  which  the  Christian  Sabbath  is  so  well  fitted 
to  afford,  before  we  can  have  any  correct  idea  of 
even  the  merely  temporal  benefits  which  the  Sab- 
bath is  calculated  to  confer  upon  the  labouring 
population,  or  of  the  immense  loss  its  discontinu- 
ance would  prove  to  the  temporal  interests  of  so- 
ciety. 

Even  as  a  cessation  from  labour,  as  a  rest  to  the 
worn-out  frame,  the  Sabbath  is  no  trifling  boon  to 
the  bowed-down  sons  of  toil.  When  we  look  upon 
it  merely  as  a  day  on  which  the  most  toil-worn 
drudge  unchidden  may  stretch  his  wearied  limbs 
upon  the  couch  of  rest ;  whereon  the  most  dusty, 
sweaty,  dirt-smeared  endurer  of  the  consequences 
of  man's  transgression  may  wash  himself  clean, 
dress  genteelly,  and  enjoy  the  society  of  his  fellow- 
men  ;  a  day  when  he,  who,  during  the  six  days  of 
labour,  must  eat  his  dry,  cold,  hurried,  and  comfort- 
less dinner  alone,  can  sit  in  leisure  and  comfort  in 
the  society  of  beloved  relatives,  with  the  clean, 
shining,  glad  faces  of  his  little  ones  around  him, 
and  his  wife,  clean  and  neat,  as  upon  her  bridal- 
day,  by  his  side,  and  enjoy  his  neatly  prepared, 
though  homely, repast ;  a  day  when  brothers  and  sis- 
ters, early  forced,  by  necessity,  from  the  parental  roof 
to  seek  a  hard-earned  subsistence  elsewhere,  may 
weekly  enjoy  each  other's  society  amid  the  blessed 
influences  of  the  home  of  their  childhood — the  Sab- 


THE      PEARL      OF      DAYS.  37 


bath,  though  looked  upon  as  bestowing  only  privile- 
ges like  these  upon  working  men, must  command  the 
respect  of  every  enlightened  and  philanthropic  mind. 
But  when  viewed  as  a  day  in 'which  all  this  is 
associated  with  the  hallowed  influences  of  religion 
— in  which  man  enjoys  the  pleasures  of  social 
intercourse  blended  with,  and  elevated  by,  the  most 
sacred  and  purifying  associations — in  which  the 
body  enjoys  repose,  not  only  that  the  mind  may  be 
fitted  for  exertion,  but  that  it  may  engage  in  the 
study  of  subjects  supremely  important  to  man,  that 
it  may  apply  itself  to  the  contemplation  of  themes 
the  most  sublime  and  interesting — a  day  in  which 
men  not  only  meet  together  that  they  may  be  in- 
structed, strengthened,  and  refined,  by  intercourse 
with  each  other,  that  mind  may  have  communion 
with  mind,  and  heart  with  heart;  but  in  which 
they  are  invited  to  meet  with  God  himself;  that 
their  minds  may  have  communion  with  His  mind, 
and  their  hearts  with  His  heart;  that  they  may  be 
instructed,  strengthened,  and  refined,  by  the  wis- 
dom and  love  of  God;  that  they  may  be  moulded 
in  His  image,  and  renewed  in  His  likeness; — it 
seems  strange  that  any  one  who  believes  man  to  be 
possessed  of  a  moral  and  intellectual  nature,  capa- 
ble of  improvement,  should  set  light  by,  or  trifle 
with,  such  an  institution;  and  passing  strange,  that 
those  who  name  the  name  of  Christ,  who  profess 
to  be  His  followers  who  emphatically  taught  that 
the  Sabbath  was   made  for  man,  should  despise 


38  THE      PEARL      OF      DAYS. 

such  a  privilege,  fling  away  its  hallowed  restraints, 
and  disregard  its  sacred  obligations. 

It  needs  but  a  glance  at  the  toilsome  life  of  our 
rural  or  our  manufacturing  population,  to  convince 
any  one  that  the  Sabbath,  viewed  merely  in  rela- 
tion to  man's  temporal  well-being,  is  of  great  value 
to  the  working  man.  The  important  influence 
which  the  frequent  return  of  such  a  day,  with  all 
its  cheering  and  inspiriting  exercises  and  associa- 
tions, must  have  upon  the  health  of  those  who 
observe  it,  is  not  to  be  overlooked.  The  wearied 
frame  is  refreshed  and  invigorated,  the  depressed 
spirits  enlivened,  and  the  flagging  energy  restored; 
— while  its  public  observances  call  for  such  atten- 
tion to  personal  appearance  as  cannot  fail  to  have 
a  beneficial  eflect  at  once  upon  the  habits  and  the 
constitution,  as  also  to  form  a  strong  inducement 
to  exertion  for  the  improvement  of  their  condition. 
Hence  it  is,  that,  when  we  enter  the  house  of  the 
church-going.  Sabbath-keeping  labourer,  we  gene- 
rally find  a  marked  difference  between  it  and  the 
home  of  him  who  rarely  or  never  enters  a  place  of 
worship,  and  who  regards  not  the  sacred  claims  of 
the  day. 

In  the  house  of  the  Sabbath-observing,  church- 
attending  labourer — even  though,  as  is  too  often 
the  case,  he  should  know  httle  or  nothing  of  the 
vital  power  of  religion,  though  his  observance  be 
mere  outward  observance,  and  his  religion  but 
form — we  observe  useful,  though  sometimes  rude 


THE      PEARL      OF      DAYS.  39 

furniture,  clothing  and  food,  cleanliness  and  com- 
fort, a  cheerful  fire  on  the  hearth,  and  a  few  books 
on  the  shelf,  every  thing  indicating  some  little 
relish  for  the  conveniences  and  comforts  of  civilized 
life. 

On  Saturday  evening,  there  is  washing  of  little 
faces,  combing  and  brushing  of  flaxen  heads,  lay- 
ing out  of  clean  little  frocks  and  pinafores,  or  jet 
black  shoes  set  ready  for  little  feet,  that,  without 
hurry  or  confusion,  clean  and  neat,  they  may  be 
ready  on  Sabbath  morning  to  accompany  father  or 
mother,  or,  if  possible,  both,  to  the  place 

"Where  Christians  meet  to  praise  and  pray, 
To  hear  of  heaven,  and  learn  the  way;" 

or  that  they  may  trip  joyously  to  their  beloved 
Sabbath-school,  there  to  sing  of  that  happy  land 
where  every  eye  is  bright,  of  that  glorious  city,  the 
streets  of  which  are  of  pure  gold,  where  the  water 
of  life  is  continually  flowing  in  a  broad  river,  clear 
as  crystal,  from  the  throne  of  God  and  of  the 
Lamb,  into  which  nothing  that  defileth  can  enter, 
neither  whatsoever  loveth  or  maketh  a  lie ;  to  learn, 
that  to  depart  from  evil  is  the  highway  to  those 
blessed  mansions  of  love,  and  joy,  and  life  ever- 
lasting— that  that  highwa}?-  is  called  holiness;  and 
to  be  told,  in  childhood's  own  simple  language,  of 
the  love  of  Him  who  is  himself  the  way,  for  he;, 
shall  save  his  people  from  their  sins;  how  he  said. 


V2 


40  THE      PEARL      OF      DAYS. 

"Suffer  little  children  to  come  unto  me/'  and  took 
them  up  in  his  arms,  and  blessed  them;  how,  when 
they  have  journeyed  along  the  rugged  path  of  this 
toilsome  life,  those  that  come  unto  God  by  him 
shall  never  again  taste  of  death  or  sorrow,  pain  or 
disease ;  for  the  Lamb,  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the 
throne,  shall  feed  them,  and  lead  them  to  living 
fountains  of  waters,  and  God  shall  wipe  away  all 
tears  from  their  eyes. 

What  do  we  find  in  the  place  of  all  this,  in  the 
home,  and  among  the  children  of  the  working  man 
who  profanes  the  sacred  hours  of  the  Sabbath? 
Squalor  and  wretchedness  force  themselves  upon 
our  observation.  The  appearance  of  the  house 
and  its  inmates  tells,  in  language  not  to  be  mis- 
taken, what  would  be  the  condition  of  working 
men,  were  this  blessed  day,  with  all  its  exalting 
and  purifying  influences,  set  aside.  How  often,  on 
Saturday  night,  are  the  children  tossed  into  bed 
unwashed  and  uncombed,  while  the  mother  puts 
their  few  rags  of  clothing  in  the  washing-tub,  and 
then  hangs  them  up  by  the  dusty  hearth,  that  they 
may  be  dry  in  the  morning !  Even  this  little  at- 
tention to  cleanliness,  partial  as  it  is,  is  of  some 
benefit,  and  the  benefit,  so  far  as  it  goes,  is  from 
the  Sabbath;  for,  were  it  not  for  that  regard  to 
appearance,  and  those  ideas  of  decency  which  the 
public  observances  of  the  Sabbath  have  introduced, 
the  skin  and  the  clothing  of  the  working  man  and 
his  children  would  seldom  indeed  be  subjected  to 


THE      PEARL      OF      DAYS.  41 

the  refreshing  and  purifying  process  of  wash- 
ing. 

Of  the  truth  of  this,  did  the  hmits  of  this  little 
essay  permit,  or  did  the  time  and  circumstances  of 
the  writer  allow  of  such  researches,  I  venture  to 
affirm  that  abundant  evidence  could  be  presented 
from  the  state  and  habits,  in  regard  to  personal 
cleanliness,  of  the  labouring  population  of  any 
country  where  the  Sabbath  is  disregarded,  as  com- 
pared with  the  condition  and  habits  of  the  same 
class  in  countries  where  the  Sabbath  is  observed 
as  a  day  of  public  assembly  for  religious  worship ; 
or  from  the  habits  of  the  lower  classes  of  our  own, 
or  of  any  other  country,  before  the  introduction  of 
the  Christian  Sabbath,  as  compared  with  their 
habits  in  this  respect,  after  the  Sabbath  has  been 
for  some  time  received  and  regarded  among  them, 
as  at  once  a  day  of  cessation  from  ordinary  labour, 
and  a  season  for  public  religious  observances. 
And  if  the  important  influence  which  cleanliness 
has  upon  health  and  comfort  be  taken  into  account, 
the  improvement  of  their  habits  in  this  respect  will 
be  allowed  to  be  no  trifling  advantage  resulting 
from  the  Sabbath  to  the  labouring  population. 

But  to  return  to  the  family  where  the  Sabbath 
is  not  regarded  as  a  day  sacred  to  the  worship  of 
God:  how  frequently  do  we  find  the  father,  with 
his  equally  reckless  companions,  taking  on  Satur- 
day evening  his  seat  in  the  house  of  the  spirit- 
dealer,  there  to  waste,  in  the  gratification  of  his 


42  THE      PEARL      OF      DAYS. 

debased  and  depraved  appetite,  his  hard-earned 
wages!  But  what  need  to  describe  the  Sabbath 
hours  of  such  a  family?  Who  that  has  been  at  all 
conversant  with  the  labouring  population  of  this 
country,  but  has  witnessed  the  comfortless  and 
fretful  confusion  of  the  morning,  while  the  suc- 
ceeding hours  are  devoted  to  the  preparation  of  the 
noonday  meal,  the  one  great  feast  of  the  week; 
and,  perchance,  the  fields,  the  public  promenade, 
or  a  trip  by  railway  to  some  place  of  public  resort, 
is  the  occupation  of  the  evening?  And  thus  are  all 
the  rich  opportunities  which  such  a  day  affords  for 
self-improvement  and  family  culture  trampled  under 
foot.  And  what  is  the  condition  of  the  children  of 
such  parents  ?  Do  they  not  grow  up  in  ignorance 
and  vice,  in  utter  neglect,  unless,  indeed,  they  are 
gathered  together  for  Sabbath  instruction  by  the 
enlightened  and  benevolent,  who  would  seek  to  do 
what  in  them  lies  to  rescue  their  fellow-creatures 
from  ignorance  and  degradation  ?  This,  however, 
will  but  slightly  supply  the  want  of  the  fireside  in- 
struction of  a  Sabbath-keeping  family ;  and  is  it 
likely  that  these  children  will  ever  attain  to  that 
degree  of  mental  culture,  or  be  governed  by  those 
moral  principles  which  would  enable  them  to  ob- 
tain an  equal  standing  in  society  with  the  children 
of  those  who  conscientiously  observe  the  Lord's 
day  ?  Let  those  who  think  so  enter  the  house  of 
him  who  keeps  holy  the  Lord's-day,  and  the  home 
of  the  Sabbath-breaker :   let  them  converse  with 


THE      PEARL      OF      DAYS  43 


their  children,  observe  their  habits,  and  then  answer. 
Those  who  feel  inclined  to  trifle  with  the  sacred 
obligations  of  this  day  would  do  well  to  consider, 
ere  they  slight  its  beneficial  restraints,  what  a 
blessed  privilege  they  fling  away — what  a  glorious 
birthright  they  would  barter  for  less  than  a  mess 
of  pottage  !  A  birthright,  the  due  appreciation 
and  the  proper  use  of  which  would  soon  enable 
them  to  cast  off"  that  yoke  of  bondage,  those  servile 
feelings,  with  which  the  working  classes  too  often 
regard  their  superiors  in  circumstances,  would  ena- 
ble them  to  stand  erect  and  unabashed  in  the  pres- 
ence of  their  fellow-man,  whatever  his  wealth  or 
rank,  as  brother  in  the  presence  of  brother,  would 
give  them  power  of  their  own  minds — a  conscience 
illuminated  by  the  light  of  heaven,  and  unfettered 
by  subjection  to  man.  Moreover,  if  the  imbecility 
of  mind,  the  consequent  limitation  of  resource,  and 
liability  to  become  the  dupes  of  imposture,  the 
tools  of  crafty,  selfish,  and  unprincipled  men,  be 
considered,  which  usually  result  from  the  depend- 
ence of  one  class  of  men  upon  the  mind  and  will 
of  another  class,  this  will  appear  to  be  no  mean 
advantage,  as  regards  temporal  condition,  which 
the  proper  observance  of  the  Sabbath  is  calculated 
to  confer  upon  the  labouring  population.  For 
proof  that  such  happy  results  do  invariably  follow 
the  introduction  of  the  Sabbath  among  the  working 
classes,  in  proportion  to  its  proper  observance,  we 
have  only  to  glance  at  the  character  and  condition 


44  THE      PEARL      OP      DAYS. 

of  the  people  in  countries  where  the  Sabbath  is,  in 
some  measure,  rightly  understood  and  observed,  as 
compared  with  the  state  of  the  people  in  lands 
where  the  Lord's  day  is  unknown,  or  devoted  to 
mere  amusement. 

The  rest  of  the  Sabbath  is  invaluable  to  the  la- 
bourer who  is  desirous  of  cultivating  his  own  mind 
by  study,  of  strengthening  and  gaining  the  control 
of  his  intellectual  powers,  or  of  increasing  his 
stock  of  knowledge  by  reading.  When  he  returns 
from  his  daily  labour,  to  enjoy  his  brief  hour  of 
leisure  in  the  evening,  his  system  is  too  much  ex- 
hausted by  his  previous  exertion,  and,  consequently, 
his  animal  spirits  too  much  depressed,  for  close  ap- 
plication of  mind  or  energy  of  thought.  If  he  at- 
tempt to  peruse  any  really  serious  and  useful  au- 
thor, he  not  unfrequently  falls  asleep  with  the 
book  in  his  hand.  The  lighter  pages  of  the  novel- 
ist, with  their  intellectual  intoxication,  and  too  often 
pernicious  views  of  human  life  and  human  nature, 
may  be  able,  by  their  excitement,  to  overcome,  for 
a  time,  his  fatigue ;  and,  therefore,  if  he  reads  at 
all,  for  these  the  works  of  the  natural  and  moral 
philosopher,  of  the  historian,  the  moralist,  and  the 
theologian,  are  laid  aside,  and  thus  his  moral  and 
intellectual  nature,  not  receiving  wholesome  food  or 
healthful  exercise,  becomes  weak-  and  diseased, 
and  unfitted  to  fulfil  the  offices  of  enlightening  him; 
his  passions  and  appetites,  unrestrained  by  an  en- 
lightened conscience  and  cultivated,  understanding, 


THE      PEARL      OF      DAYS.  45 

lead  him  captive  at  their  will ;  and  his  whole  cha- 
racter and  condition  strikingly  prove  that,  as  a 
general  rule,  the  degradation  of  one  part  of  man's 
nature  is  the  degradation  of  the  whole. 

Is  his  temporal  condition  abject,  his  body  sub- 
jected to  unremitting  toil  .^ — his  intellectual  condi- 
tion, too,  is  debased,  and  his  mind  enslaved.  Is  his 
intellect  uncultivated,  and  his  moral  nature  vitiated? 
— his  outward  appearance*  and  condition  are  de- 
graded, rude,  and  comfortless.  The  Sabbath,  by 
the  repose  it  affords,  not  only  renews  man's  physi- 
cal energy,  renovates  his  animal  system,  it  also 
qualifies  his  mind  to  apply  itself  to  self-culture  and 
to  the  acquisition  of  solid  and  useful  knowledge. 
Nor  does  it  stop  here — it  leaves  him  not  unaided 
and  unguided  to  grope  in  darkness  for  the  know- 
ledge which  is  essential  to  his  well-being ;  it  pours 
upon  his  path  a  flood  of  light,  opens  wide  the  gate 
of  knowledge,  and  bids  him  enter.  It  leaves  him 
not  to  mope  alone  over  the  dreamy  speculations  of 
sceptical  philosophers  who  have  attained  to  no  be- 
lief, who  have  no  certainty  or  knowledge,  but  have 
chosen  their  perpetual  abode  in  those  gloomy  re- 
gions of  darkness  where  the  dense  fogs  of  doubt 
are  for  ever  settled,  till  his  mental  energy  is  ex- 
hausted and  his  mind  unhinged.  No  ;  it  calls  him 
forth  in  exulting  joy  to  seek  the  society  of  his 


*  This  is  strikingly  verified  by  Lavater,  in  his  celebrated 
work  on  Physiognomy. — Ed. 


46  -THE      PEARL      OF      DAYS. 

fellow-men,  that  mind  may  awaken  and  strengthen 
mind,  and  heart  warm  heart — that  they  may  pon- 
der together  the  meaning  of  facts — facts  attested  by 
incontrovertible  evidence — facts  the  most  sublime 
and  interesting  that  have  ever  engaged  the  atten- 
tion of  man.  It  calls  men  together  to  study,  in 
each  other's  society,  a  system  of  morality  pure  and 
perfect,  founded  upon  these  facts.  It  furnishes  him 
with  subjects  surpassingly  glorious,  in  the  contem- 
plation of  which  he  may  exert  and  cultivate  his 
intellectual  powers.  It  inspires  him  with  hopes 
which  give  him  fortitude  to  endure  the  unavoidable 
evils  of  his  condition,  and  energy  to  surmount  its 
difficulties.  Yes,  the  Lord's  day,  with  its  commu- 
nion with  God,  its  memorials,  its  exercises,  its 
instructions,  and  its  social  intercourse,  ever  as  it 
returns  gives  a  fresh  impulse  to  human  advance- 
ment. It  is,  truly,  a  fountain  whence  spring  innu- 
merable benefits. 

Not  only  does  each  returning  Sabbath  give  a 
new  and  powerful  impetus  to  man's  advancement 
in  his  heavenward  course;  but  in  so  doing,  it  urges 
him  onward  and  upward  in  civilization,  refinement 
and  comfort. 

A  day  of  rest,  of  cessation  from  active  and  toil- 
some exertion,  is,  doubtless,  as  ministering  to  the 
health  and  vigour  of  the  animal  system,  of  immense 
value  to  working  .men.  I  have  no  hesitation, 
however,  in  affirming,  that,  amongst  those  who 
view  it  in  no  other  light  than  as  a  day  of  rest  and 


THE      PEARL      OF      DAYS.  47 

recreation,  as  a  season  set  apart  to  no  higher  pur- 
pose than  that  of  refreshing  and  invigorating  the 
body,  it  generally  fails  of  accomplishing  even  this : 
they  almost  invariably  devote  the  day  to  the 
service  of  their  divers  lusts  and  pleasures,  while 
the  neglected  appearance  of  their  families,  and  the 
jaded  and  abused  state  of  their  bodies,  wofully 
testify  to  the  degrading  effects  of  misusing  its 
hallowed  hours;  and  clearly  demonstrate  that  it  is 
"  the  Sabbath  of  the  Lord,'^  the  Lord's  day  alone,  as 
appointed  by  himself,  which  is  really  calculated  to 
benefit  mankind,  and  not  a  day  of  man's  devising. 
And  why?  Because  the  Sabbath-day  is  appointed 
by  our  all-wise  Creator,  by  Him  who  knoweth 
what  is  in  man,  and  what  is  needful  for  man.  And 
it  is  exactly  suited  to  man — it  meets  the  wants  at 
once  of  his  physical  and  intellectual  constitution, 
and  of  his  social  and  spiritual  nature.  He  who 
wears  purple  and  fine  linen,  and  fares  sumptuously 
every  day,  whose  hand  has  never  been  hardened, 
nor  his  brow  moistened  by  toil,  whose  every  day 
makes  him  the  companion  and  instructor  of  his 
family,  and  who, 'fresh  and  unwearied,  can  seat 
himself  in  his  quiet  study,  and  enjoy  his  daily 
returning  hours  of  leisure,  may  slight  the  obliga- 
tions of  the  Sabbath,  and  break  loose  from  its 
restraints,  without,  in  the  eye  of  his  fellow-man, 
appearing  to. suffer  in  mind,  character,  or  condition. 
But  on  him  whose  daily  returning  wants  call  for 
strenuous  and  incessant  exertion,  that  they  may 


w 


48  THE      PEARL      OF      DAYS. 

obtain  a  needful  supply,  the  abuse  of  Sabbath 
hours  is  soon  visible  in  a  beggared  and  degraded 
mind,  a  depraved  moral  character,  and  a  conse- 
quently degraded  condition  in  society;  in  squalid, 
untrained  children,  and  a  comfortless  home;  and 
not  unfrequently,  in  absolute  want  of  the  very 
necessaries  of  life. 

It  might  easily  be  shown,  that,  among  the 
numerous  advantages  which  the  weekly  rest  af- 
fords the  working  man,  is  this,  namely,  that  it  gives 
him  its  rest,  without  diminishing,  in  any  degree, 
his  means  of  subsistence  and  comfort.  By  pre- 
venting the  seventh  day  from  being  brought  into 
the  labour  market,  it  enables  him  to  procure  a 
remuneration  for  six  days'  labour  equal  to  that 
which,  were  there  no  such  day,  he  would  be  able 
to  obtain  for  seven.  Although  those  who  degrade 
the  Sabbath  from  its  place  as  a  religious  institution, 
to  a  day  of  mere  bodily  rest  and  recreation,  enjoy 
this  advantage  in  common  with  him  who  regards 
the  day  in  its  proper  character,  as  a  day  set  apart 
for  the  public  worship  of  God  and  the  study  of  his 
word ;  yet,  they  are  generally  by  far  his  inferiors 
in  comfort  and  independence.  It  is  no  uncommon 
thing  to  find  them,  while  actually  engaged  in  some 
kind  of  employment  which  brings  higher  wages 
than  the  occupation  followed  by  their  neighbour 
obtains,  before  the  close  of  the  week  begging  or 
borrowing  from  him  the  necessaries  of  life.  Few 
will   have  mingled  much  among  labouring  men 


THE      PEARL      OF      DAYS.  49 

and  their  families,  without  meeting  with  many 
instances  of  this  kind,  all  demonstrating  the  truth 
of  what  has  already  been  advanced,  that  it  is  the 
Christian  Sabbath,  observed  as  appointed  by  our 
Lord  himself,  that  can  ever  really  improve  even 
the  temporal  character  of  the  labourer,  and  that  no 
human  institution  ever  can  supply  its  place,  or 
have  the  same  beneficial  influence  upon  society. 

To  the  husband  and  father,  whose  family  require 
his  daily  labour  for  their  support,  and  who  Is 
anxious  to  impart  to  them  that  instruction  which  is 
so  necessary  to  the  perfect  and  healthful  develop- 
ment of  their  mental  powers,  the  Sabbath  is  of 
inestimable  value.  Dearly  as  he  loves  to  meet  the 
joyous  welcome  of  his  little  ones,  upon  his  return 
from  his  day's  labour,  pleasant  as  it  is  for  him  to 
enjoy  their  childish  prattle,  while  they  are  seated 
together  around  the  evening  fire,  yet,  having  just 
returned,  exhausted  by  a  day  of  toil,  while  they 
climb  his  knee,  and  chat  over  the  little  adventures 
of  the  day,  they  are  more  to  him  as  playthings, 
than  as  beings  the  training  of  whose  minds  and 
habits  for  after  life  is  entrusted  to  him.  This, 
during  the  six  days  of  labour,  devolves,  almost 
exclusively,  upon  the  mother,  or,  as  is  too  often  the 
case,  it  is  utterly  neglected,  because  it  requires  the 
most  incessant  and  laborious  exertions  of  both 
father  and  mother  to  enable  them  to  obtain  a  sub- 
sistence for  themselves  and  their  offspring;  and 
were  it  not  for  the  weekly  return  of  Sabbath-rest, 


50  THE      PEARL      OF      DAYS. 

and  its  opportunities  for  improvement,  they  would 
grow  up  untrained,  as  the  wild  ass's  colt.  But  the 
Sabbath  places  the  Christian  father  refreshed  and 
vigorous  in  the  midst  of  his  family,  his  mind  en- 
lightened and  enriched  by  its  instruction,  and  his 
feelings  soothed  by  its  devotional  exercises;  tlius 
fitting  him  to  impart  instruction,  in  a  manner  at 
once  calculated  to  reach  the  understandings  and 
win  the  hearts  of  his  little  ones. 

What  a  delightful  scene  of  tranquil  enjoyment  is 
to  be  met  with  in  the  family  of  the  labourer  where 
the  Sabbath  is  properly  appreciated  and  actively 
improved!  Has  the  reader  ever  spent  a  Lord's 
day  in  such  a  family?  Has  he  seen  the  children, 
awaking  from  the  light  slumbers  of  the  morning, 
glance  round  on  the  more  than  usual  order,  clean- 
liness and  quiet  of  the  humble  apartment,  and  then 
ask,  Mother,  what  day  is  this?  and  heard  the  reply. 
This  is  the  Sabbath,  the  best  of  all  days,  the  day 
which  God  has  blessed!  Has  he  seen  their  father 
dandling  the  baby,  till  their  mother  should  finish 
dressing  the  elder  children,  and  then,  when  all 
were  ready,  heard  the  little  circle  join  in  the  sweet 
morning  hymn,  and  seen  them  kneel  together, 
while  their  father  offered  up  a  simple,  but  heart- 
felt thanksgiving  for  life,  health,  and  reason  pre- 
served, through  the  toils  of  another  week;  and  for 
the  privilege  of  being  again  all  permitted  to  enjoy, 
in  each  other's  society,  the  blessed  light  of  the  first 
day  of  the  week;  that  morning-light  which  brings 


THE      PEARL      OF      DAYS.  51 

to  mind  an  empty  grave,  and  a  risen  Saviour;  those 
peaceful  hours  which,  undisturbed  by  the  labour, 
hurry,  and  anxieties  of  the  week,  they  can  devote 
to  the  advancement  of  that  spiritual  life  in  their 
souls,  which  shall  outlive  the  destruction  of  death 
itself?  Has  he  heard  the  words  of  prayer,  the 
questions  of  the  father,  and  the  replies  of  the 
children;  and  has  he  not  felt  assured  that  the 
mind-awakening  influences  of  such  subjects  of 
thought,  and  such  exercises,  would  be  seen  in  the 
after  years  of  these  children  ? 

Or,  has  he,  on  their  return  from  the  meeting- 
place  of  Christians,  witnessed  their  afternoon  and 
evening  employments?  Has  he  seen  the  eager  and 
intelligent  expression  of  those  young  faces,  as  the 
beautiful  story  of  Joseph  and  his  brethren  was  read 
aloud  to  them;  or  that  of  Daniel  cast  into  the  lions' 
den;  or  how  the  servants  of  the  living  God  walked 
unhurt  in  the  midst  of  the  fire,  whilst  its  flame  slew 
those  men  who  cast  them  in;  or  the  narrative  of 
the  wandering  prodigal,  wretched  and  despised  in 
a  foreign  land,  whilst  the  meanest  of  his  father's 
servants  Avere  living  in  abundance  and  comfort? 
Has  he  heard  their  voices,  each  low  but  earnest; 
and  then  listened  to  the  reading  of  the  word  of 
God  ?  heard  the  reciting  by  turn,  some  beautiful 
hymns,  or  reading  some  interesting  chapter,  or 
engaged  in  conversation  familiar  and  pleasant, 
though  serious  and  instructive;  children  asking 
questions  of  parents,  and  parents  of  children,  con- 

W2 


52  THE      PEARL      OF      DAYS. 

cerning  what  they  have  been  hearing  and  reading 
during  the  day  ?  And  is  not  he  who  has  been  the 
spectator  of  all  this  convinced  that  such  a  day 
is  to  the  labourer  and  his  children  an  inheritance 
of  surpassing  value  ?  that  it  is  weekly  adding  a 
fresh  impulse  to  their  progress  in  improvement,  and 
preparing  them  to  take  advantage  of  whatever  op- 
portunities the  week  may  afford?  Will  not  the 
Sabbaths  of  their  childhood  leave  an  impression 
upon  their  future  years  which  will  never  be  effaced ; 
an  impress  of  superiority  in  intelligence  and  mo- 
raUty,  and  a  consequent  superiority  in  circum- 
stances ? 

One  important  advantage  which  is  connected 
with  the  observance  of  the  Lord's  day,  among  the 
labouring  population,  is  the  influence  which  it  has 
in  elevating  the  mind,  character,  and  condition  of 
the  female  portion  of  the  community.  Where 
Christianity  and  its  weekly  rest  are  unknown,  the 
condition  of  woman  is  abject  in  the  extreme.  But 
the  religion  of  Jesus  raises  her  from  her  degraded 
situation,  by  calling  her  forward  to  engage  in  the 
exercises,  share  the  instructions,  and  receive  the  in- 
fluences of  its  Sabbath.  The  Lord's  day  calls  her 
thinking  powers  into  action,  gives  her  a  mind  and 
conscience  of  her  own,  cultivates  her  intellectual 
and  moral  nature,  and  gives  her  to  man  a  helpmate 
indeed,  fitted  to  become,  not  merely  his  slave  or 
his  toy,  but  the  companion  of  his  labours  and  his 
studies,  his  devoted  friend,  and  his  faithful  and  ju- 


.iliiiiife 


"  The  Lord's  Day  calls  her  thinking  powers  into  action. — Pearl  of 
Days,  Page  52. 


THE      PEARL      OF      DAYS.  53 

dicious  adviser ;  not  merely  the  mother  and  nurse 
of  his  children,  but  their  intelligent  instructor  and 
guide — his  most  efficient  assistant  in  their  intellect- 
ual and  moral  training.  And  if  we  consider  the 
influence  which  the  training  that  man  receives  in 
his  early  years  has  upon  his  character  in  after  life 
— that,  for  the  most  part,  in  the  families  of  working 
men,  infancy  and  childhood  are  spent  in  the  society 
of  the  mother,  and  therefore  the  impressions  by 
which  the  character  is,  in  a  great  measure,  formed, 
are  made  by  her,  we  shall  feel  convinced  that  the 
cultivation  of  the  female  mind  and  character  must 
have  an  incalculable  influence  upon  the  condition 
of  the  labouring  population. 

It  were  worth  ascertaining,  how  many  of  those 
who  have  risen  up  from  among  the  labouring  popu- 
lation to  adorn  and  bless  humanity  by  their  talents 
and  their  philanthropy,  to  enlighten  and  benefit  so- 
ciety by  useful  and  important  discoveries  in  art  and 
science,  or  by  patient  persevering  labour  to  advance 
mankind  in  virtue  and  intelligence — how  many  of 
these  had  their  minds  awakened  to  activity,  and 
their  principles  formed,  by  tlue  instructions  which 
hard-working  parents  were  enabled  to  give  them 
upon  the  Lord's  day,  the  only  time  they  could  de- 
vote to  such  a  purpose.  And  would  it  not  shed  a 
fearful  light  upon  this  subject,  could  we  possess 
ourselves  of  the  history  of  the  early  Sabbaths  of 
those  who  have  made  themselves  notorious  by 
their  crimes ;  or  of  those  who,  having  sunk  them- 


54  THE      PEARL      OF      DAYS. 

selves  deep  in  moral  pollution,  have  destroyed 
themselves,  degraded  humanity,  and  cursed  so- 
ciety by  their  vices  ?  Would  not  such  records  give 
startling  evidence  of  the  ruinous  effects  resulting 
from  the  abuse  of  the  weekly  rest,  and  clearly  de- 
monstrate the  truth  of  what  has  been  already  ad- 
vanced, that,  were  the  Sabbath  abolished,  or  given 
to  working  men  as  a  day  of  mere  bodily  refresh- 
ment and  recreation,  and  not  as  a  religious  institu- 
tion, they  would  soon  be  reduced  to  a  condition 
worse  than  that  of  the  untaught  savage  ? 

Yes ;  man  is  equally  liable  to  degenerate  as  he 
is  capable  of  improvement — more  so,  for  he  must 
be  aroused,  urged  forward,  forced  on  almost  against 
his  will.  To  take  the  downward  path  of  degeneracy, 
he  needs  only  to  be  left  unmolested  to  choose  his 
own  way. 

Are  there  those  who  deny  this — who  look  upon 
man  as  not  a  fallen  and  depraved  being,  shorn  of 
the  glory  of  his  primeval  excellency,  ever  liable  to 
sink  lower  and  degenerate  farther,  unless  influences 
from  without  reach  him — but  as  a  being  who  has 
raised  himself  by  the  unaided  exercise  of  the 
powers  of  his  own  mind,  from  a  condition  little 
above  that  of  the  brute  creation,  to  his  present 
state  ?  I  ask  them  but  to  survey  the  page  of  hu- 
man history,  to  become  convinced  of  the  absurdity 
of  such  an  idea.  Can  they  point  to  the  records  of 
any  tribe  of  the  human  family  which,  from  a  con- 
dition of  rude  barbarism,  and  shut  out  from  ah  In- 


THE      PEARL      OF      DAYS.  55 

tercourse  with  civilized  nations,  has  ever  raised 
itself  above  such  a  state?*  They  cannot — it  has 
uniformly  been  the  entrance  of  the  missionary,  the 
trader,  the  emigrant,  from  more  enlightened  and 
civilized  nations,  which  has  changed  the  condition. 
of  such  a  people. 

Had  it  been  as  they  say,  had  man  been  formed 
the  being  they  represent  him,  and  had  the  voice  of 
God  never  reached  his  ear,  had  no  celestial  visitant 
ever  arrived  upon  our  planet,  man  had  never  risen 
one  step  above  his  first  condition,  If,  then,  as  the 
history  of  mankind  abundantly  proves,  religion 
founded  upon  revelation  is  the  only  really  efficient 
means  by  which  man  can  be  raised  to  that  state  of 
perfection  he  is  capable  of  attaining ;  if,  as  we  trace 
the  progress  of  Christianity  among  the  nations,  we 
find  an  advancement  in  civilization  following  in 
her  footsteps,  and  an  amelioration  of  the  social 
condition  of  the  people  marking  her  progress,  may 
we  not  reasonably  attribute  to  her  seventh-day 
rest  all  the  temporal  blessings  which,  as  she  ad- 
vances, she  is  conferring  upon  the  labouring  popu- 
lation? And  would  not  the  abolition  of  this  insti- 
tution, or  the  appropriation  of  Sabbath  hours  to 
other  than  their  proper  use,  be  effectively  to  ex- 
clude those  who  obtain  their  daily  bread  by  the 

*  Such  as  desire  further  information  on  this  important  point, 
may  obtain  it,  at  a  very  small  expense  of  time  and  labour,  by 
consulting  Dr.  Doig's  "  Three  Letters  on  the  Savage  State," 
addressed  to  Lord  Kames. — Ed. 


56  THE      PEARL      OF      DAYS. 

labour  of  their  hands,  from  a  participation  in  the 
benefits  which  the  knowledge  of  revelation  confers 
upon  man?  No  more  effectual  step  could  be  taken 
towards  the  demoralization,  I  had  almost  said  the 
brutalization,  of  the  labouring  population,  than  that 
of  inducing  them  to  look  upon  it  as  a  mere  human 
holiday,  which  may  be  occupied  in  any  way  fancy 
may  dictate.  Barbarous  and  degrading  sports, 
bull-baiting,  cock-fighting,  and  such  like ;  drunken- 
ness, revelry,  and  riot,  would,  with  fearful  rapidity, 
take  the  place  of  the  solemn  assembly. 

He  who  would  seek  to  enslave  and  degrade  the 
working  man,  could  not  more  effectually  accom- 
plish his  object,  than  by  persuading  him  to  regard 
and  occupy  the  Sabbath  as  a  day  which  he  might 
spend  in  amusement.  Were  the  Lord's  day  blotted 
out,  or  spent  in  mere  recreation — were  the  sons  of 
toil  no  more  to  enjoy  or  avail  themselves  of  its  rich 
provisions  for  their  instruction  and  elevation — not 
only  should  we  soon  see  religion  disregarded,  that 
blessed  light  of  heaven,  that  sunshine  of  the  sky 
which  is  chasing  the  shadows  of  ignorance,  and 
dissipating  the  mists  of  error  and  superstition; 
which  is  awakening  man  to  spiritual  life,  arousing 
to  healthful  activity  in  him  all  the  springs  of  moral 
feeling  and  intellectual  energy;  not  only  would  this 
morning  beam  be  shut  out  from  the  sons  of  toil, 
those  glad  tidings  which  Jesus  so  frequently 
preached  to  the  poor  in  the  weekly  assembly  upon 
the   Sabbath-day,  be   put  without   the   ^each   of 


L^ 


THE      PEARL      OFDAYS.  57 

working  men — but  we  should  soon  see  them  de- 
prived of  those  civil  institutions  which  secure  to 
them  personal  liberty,  and  degraded  to  a  condition 
of  mere  vassalage. 

Let  no  one  be  startled  when  I  afiirm  that  it  is 
the  Sabbath  which  has  bestowed  upon  the  labour- 
ing population  the  civil  privileges  they  enjoy,  and 
raised  them  to  the  position  they  occupy;  that  it  is 
the  Lord's  day  which  is  the  great,  the  everlasting 
bulwark  of  human  freedom.  It  is  that  moral  forCe 
which  intelligence  and  virtue  bestow  upon  a  people, 
which  unlooses  effectually  the  iron  grasp  of  the 
oppressor;  which  makes  their  voice  heard  clearly 
and  distinctly  in  the  legislation  of  their  country, 
and  blots  pernicious,  partial,  and  unjust  laws  out 
of  the  statute-book;  and  it  is,  as  we  have  already 
seen,  the  knowledge  of  God  obtained  from  revela- 
tion, which  awakens  man's  dormant  powers  of 
mind,  which  leads  him  onward  and  upward  in 
virtue  and  intelligence. 

Deprive  religion  of  its  weekly  rest,  and  by  what 
means  is  it  to  gain  access  to  the  ears  and  to  the 
understandings  of  working  men,  and  their  children? 
When  is  it  to  pour  its  light  into  their  minds,  and 
the  influence  of  devotion  into  their  hearts  ?  When 
shall  the  labourer  study  the  book  of  God,  or  work- 
ing men  gather  together  to  hear,  not  the  teachings 
of  erring  man,  but,  with  the  Scriptures  of  truth  in 
their  hands,  to  listen  to  the  voice  of  that  infallible 
Wisdom  which  was  with  God  when  he  laid  the 


58  THE      PEARL      OF      DAYS. 

foundations  of  the  earth?  Shall  it  be  after  a  day 
of  laborious  exertion  has  rendered  them  unfit,  by 
exhaustion,  for  the  close  application  of  their  minds 
to  any  serious  st^idy?  Alas  for  the  advancement 
of  the  labouring  portion  of  the  community  in  intel- 
ligence and  morality !  Alas  for  the  refinement  of 
manners,  and  the  cultivation  of  mind  among  them, 
if  it  is  to  be  left  to  such  seasons !  So  absolutely 
essential  to  the  well-being  of  man  does  the  Sabbath 
appear,  whether  viewed  in  relation  to  his  eternal 
or  his  temporal  interests,  that,  could  we  suppose  it 
possible  for  man,  destitute  of  the  weekly  rest,  to 
become  conscious  of  the  wants  of  his  own  nature, 
we  should  conclude  that  he  would  have  instituted, 
of  his  own  accord,  a  Sabbath  for  himself.  Those 
who,  either  for  worldly  gain  or  the  pursuit  of 
pleasure,  profane  the  sacred  hours  of  Sabbath  rest, 
are  not  only  despising  one  of  the  most  important 
institutions  of  religion,  but  they  are  doing  what  in 
them  lies  to  undermine  one  of  the  most  enduring 
defences  of  human  liberty. 

He  who  would  take  from  the  working  man  his 
Sabbath,  would  take  with  it  the  mind-awakening 
influence  of  religion;  would  keep  the  gate  of 
knowledge,  and  forbid  his  entrance  ;  would  throw 
an  impassable  barrier  in  the  way  of  his  progress  in 
civilization,  and  leave  him  the  slave  of  the  despot, 
the  tool  of  the  crafty  politician,  and  the  follower  of 
the  superstitious  zealot,  or  the  religious  impostor. 

Let  those,  then,  who  would  seek  to  transmit  to 


THE      PEARL      OF      DAYS.  59 

their  children  that  hberty  and  those  rights  for 
which  their  fathers  have  struggled  and  bled,  rear 
them  amidst  Sabbath  influences,  fill  their  minds 
with  those  subjects  for  the  study  of  which  the 
weekly  rest  was  instituted,  and  accustom  them  to 
Sabbath  exercises;  and,  most  assuredly,  they  will 
rise  above  the  oppression  of  the  tyrant,  see  through 
the  devices  of  the  crafty,  the  subtlety  of  the  sophist, 
and  the  deceit  of  the  impostor. 

All  the  efforts  which  have  ever  been  made  by 
the  rude  arm  of  physical  force,  to  rescue  mankind 
from  oppression,  have  been  utterly  futile ;  and  if 
any  one  will  survey  the  state  of  the  nations  at  the 
present  moment,  he  will  find  the  liberty  and  the 
privileges  enjoyed  by  the  people,  to  be  exactly 
proportioned  to  the  extent  to  which  general  intelli- 
gence and  the  knowledge  of  the  word  of  God  are 
diffused  among  them.  What  has  the  sword  ever 
effected  for  the  redemption  of  mankind  from  tyran- 
ny ?  It  may  have  wrenched  power  from  the  hand 
of  one  party,  but  it  has  only  been  to  give  it  into 
the  hand  of  another  equally  liable  to  abuse  it. 
Has  it  been  torn  from  the  hand  of  a  lawless  and 
merciless  despot?  It  has  been  given  into  the 
hands  of  an  insolent  and  brutal  soldiery,  or  a 
superstitious  mob,  who  soon  trampled  under  foot 
that  liberty  which  had  been  purchased  for  them 
with  the  blood  of  their  brethren.  Every  revolution 
which  has  been  effected  by  violence,  affords  proof 
of  this. 


60  THE      PEARL      OF      DAYS. 

It  has  been  the  blood  of  the  martyr — the  patient 
endurance  and  unshaken  fortitude  of  him  who 
would  rather  yield  up  liberty  and  life  itself,  than 
deny  the  truth — the  peaceable,  but  persevering  and 
indefatigable  missionary,  whose  exertions  have 
been  devoted  to  the  spread  of  the  knowledge  of 
God  among  men,  who,  by  introducing  religion  and 
its  Sabbath,  and  bringing  man  into  intercourse 
with  his  God,  the  great  Lord  of  all,  to  whom  all 
are  equally  responsible,  the  governed  and  the 
governor,  the  subject  and  the  prince,  the  servant 
and  his  master;  and  thus,  by  awakening  in  men  a 
sense  of  their  personal  responsibility,  has  aroused 
their  minds  to  activity.  It  is  the  knowledge  of 
their  responsibility — of  the  great  truth  that  all  must 
stand  before  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ,  to  give, 
each  one,  an  account  of  the  deeds  done  in  the  body 
— which  causes  men  to  think  and  act  for  them- 
selves, and  thus  raises  them  above  the  subtlety  and 
power  of  selfishness  and  ambition. 

Although  the  Sabbath  comes  laden  with  bless- 
ings for  the  sons  of  men,  yet  let  it  never  be  for- 
gotten, that  he  only  whom  the  truth  has  made  free, 
he  who  has  left  the  service  of  sin,  to  become  the 
Lord's  free  man,  doing  the  will  of  God  from  the 
heart,  can  fully  appreciate  or  enjoy,  not  only  its 
spiritual,  but  even  its  merely  temporal  blessings. 
He  who  has  never  tasted  that  God  is  good,  who 
has  never  in  joyful  confidence  committed  the  sal- 
vation of  his  soul  into  the  hand  of  Jesus,  will  but 


THE      PEARL      OF      DAYS.  61 

abuse  its  benefits,  neglect  its  duties,  and  despise  its 
privileges 

How  often  does  Monday  morning  give  painful 
evidence  of  the  total  usclessness  of  the  weekly  rest 
to  those  who  look  upon  it  merely  as  a  day  of  rest 
from  toil,  and  a  season  for  recreation  !  Even  the 
rest  they  talk  of  is  thrown  away,  and  they  are 
jaded  and  exhausted  by  folly  and  intemperance. 
Monday  finds  them  scarce  fit  for  the  labour  of  the 
day ;  instead  of  the  animal  system  being  refreshed 
and  health  improved,  the  body  is  abused,  and  dis- 
ease engendered  ;  while  among  those  who,  though 
knowing  nothing  of  the  living  power  of  religion, 
yet  influenced  by  the  customs  and  opinions  of  so- 
ciety around  them,  show  no  small  regard  for  the 
Sabbath,  how  often  are  its  blessed  influences  almost 
entirely  buried  underneath  the  rubbish  of  mere 
ceremonial  sanctity  !  No  wonder  if  childhood, 
sternly  commanded  to  assume  the  serious  gravity 
of  age,  through  the  long,  weary,  empty  hours  of 
an  inactive  Sabbath,  should  imbibe  a  deep-rooted 
dislike  to  religion  and  its  Sabbath.  No  wonder  if, 
in  families  where  it  is  thus  observed,  the  minds  of 
the  young  should  become  disaff'ected  to  that  reli- 
gion, of  which  such  an  empty,  gloomy  institution 
is  viewed  as  a  part ;  that,  having  received  such  a 
false  idea  of  religion,  they  should  plunge  headlong 
into  the  pleasures,  follies,  and  vices  of  the  world, 
thinking  that  such  lifeless  and  gloomy  exercises 
will  better  suit  the  weakness  and  infirmity  of  age, 


62  THE      PEARL      OF      DAYS. 

than  the  fresh  and  buoyant  activity  of  youth,  and 
thus  reap  tlie  results  of  an  irregular  and  intemper- 
ate life,  in  a  shattered  constitution  and  depraved 
character.  No  wonder  if  youth,  coming  forth  from 
the  bosom  of  such  families,  should  be  easily  de- 
luded by  sophistry,  and,  caught  in  the  snares  of 
scepticism,  should  step  into  the  ranks  of  unbelievers, 
or  sink  to  the  fate  of  the  criminal  and  the  vicious. 
He  who  blessed  the  seventh  day  and  sanctified 
it,  never  meant  that  that  day,  whose  first  morning 
beam  fell  upon  the  joyful  activity  of  a  new  and 
perfect  creation,  whose  dawning  light  saw  the  Son 
of  man  arise  triumphant  over  death  and  the  grave, 
should  be  spent  in  listless,  motionless  silence,  or  in 
soulless,  meaningless  ceremony.  No  ;  holy  its  hours 
indeed  are,  sanctified,  set  apart ;  not  however  to 
solemn,  gloomy,  lifeless  inactivity,  but  hallowed  to 
rest  and  refreshment,  sacred  to  joy,  set  apart  to  ac- 
tive, cheerful,  and  strenuous  exertion  for  the  im- 
provement of  ourselves  and  others  in  hohness,  vir- 
tue, and  intelligence.  Doubtless,  thousands  who 
have  never  felt  the  power  of  the  truth  in  an  awak- 
ened conscience  and  a  renewed  heart,  are  reaping 
many  and  important  benefits  from  the  Lord's  day, 
in  the  more  general  diffusion  of  knowledge,  and 
the  advancement  of  civilization,  besides  the  com- 
fortable rest  and  refreshment  it  affords  their  bodies. 
But  they  can  only  to  a  limited  extent  enjoy  the  be- 
neficial influence  of  the  weekly  rest,  whether 
viewed  as  increasing  their  enjoyment  in  this  pre- 


THE      PEARL      OF      DAYS.  63 

sent  life,  or  as  fitting   them   for   happiness   here- 
after. 

While,  then,  considering  it  of  the  utmost  im- 
portance that  this  day  should  be  preserved  from  the 
encroachments  of  labour  and  amusement,  that 
working  men  should  be  protected  by  the  law  of 
their  country  in  the  observance  of  it,  and  regarding 
it  as  of  paramount  importance,  that  it  be  preserved 
in  its  unimpaired  sanctity  as  the  birthright  of  every 
Briton, — I  would  earnestly,  solemnly,  and  affec- 
tionately, urge  upon  the  attention  of  those  who, 
seeking  the  improvement  of  the  temporal  condi- 
tion of  the  labouring  population  of  our  country, 
and  aware  of  the  powerful  influence  which  a  pro- 
per observance  of  the  Sabbath  would  have  in 
effecting  their  elevation,  are  endeavouring  to  call 
the  attention  of  the  legislature  to  the  subject, — that 
here  legal  enactments  can  do  but  little ;  they  may 
put  down,  to  some  extent,  the  more  public  and 
glaring  forms  of  Sabbath  profanation,  but  this  will 
only  increase  the  amount  of  secret  desecration. 
Those  who  have  no  heart  for  the  proper  observ- 
ance of  this  day,  may  be  prevented  from  spending 
it  in  certain  kinds  of  labour  or  amusement,  railway 
travelling,  pleasure  excursions,  and  such  like.  By 
being  prevented  from  enjoying  themselves  in  such 
pursuits,  however,  they  will  be  driven  into  the  se- 
cret haunts  of  dissipation  and  vice ;  and  thus,  al- 
though it  is  no  doubt  well  that,  where  wickedness 
cannot  be  eradicated,  it  should  be  made  ashamed 


X2 


64  THE      PEARL      OP      DAYS. 

to  show  its  head,  yet  comparatively  httle  good  can 
be  effected  by  the  civil  ruler  in  promoting  the 
cause  of  Sabbath  observance.  I  would  entreat 
them  to  bear  in  mind,  that  it  is  only  the  truths  of 
the  Gospel  imparting  spiritual  life,  implanting 
moral  principle,  bringing  the  will  of  man  into  sub- 
jection to  the  will  of  his  Creator,  and  awakening 
the  intellect,  that  can  enable  man  to  reap  that  full 
harvest  of  temporal  good  from  the  weekly  rest 
which  it  is  so  well  fitted  to  afford  himt 

Let,  then,  all  who  would  see  man  redeemed  from 
ignorance  and  slavery,  vice  and  degradation — all 
who  would  see  the  working  man  refined  in  man- 
ners, and  elevated  in  character  and  condition,  exert 
their  utmost  energy  in  the  diffusion  of  knowledge, 
in  the  education  of  youth,  but  above  all,  in  calling 
the  attention  of  men  to  Divine  truth,  to  the  glad 
tidings  of  salvation ;  and  for  this  purpose  let  them 
rejoice  in,  and  employ  the  Sabbath,  as  connected 
with  rehgion,  as  affording  time  for  spreading 
abroad  the  knowledge  of  God.  This  is  the  lever 
which  is  to  lift  man  from  the  degradation  of  the 
fall,  and  make  him  fit  to  be  the  inhabitant  of  a 
new  earth,  wherein  all  the  evils  which  at  present 
surround  him  shall  be  unknown. 

What  varied  agencies  is  not  the  Sabbath  calling 
into  operation,  to  press  forward  and  give  fresh 
impulse  to  the  onward  movement!  Not  only  is 
the  stolid  mind  of  the  untaught  workman  aroused, 
impelling  motive  and  untiring  energy  imparted,  to 


THE      PEARL      OF      DAYS.  65 

carry  him  on  in  the  upward  path  of  self-improve- 
ment; but  the  sympathies  of  his  nature  are  also 
awakened,  and,  looking  on  the  moral  and  intel- 
lectual degradation,  and  the  physical  wretchedness 
around  him,  his  heart  is  yearning  over  his  fellow- 
men,  and  the  weekly  rest  affording  him  time,  he  is 
stretching  out  the  hand  of  a  brother  to  those  who 
are  sunk  in  ignorance  and  vice,  he  is  pointing  the 
upward  path,  and  stimulating  to  the  upward  move- 
ment. See  that  young  man,  whose  daily  earnings, 
perchance,  are  needful,  not  merely  for  his  own 
support,  but  it  may  be,  for  the  support  of  aged 
parents,  or  of  young  and  helpless  brothers  and 
sisters ;  the  circumstances  of  whose  early  years  had 
prevented  his  enjoying  more  than  the  limited  ad- 
vantages of  a  common  grammar-school  education, 
or,  perhaps,  not  even  allowed  of  his  receiving  so 
much  as  a  common  school  education,  but  wiiose 
knowledge  has  been  picked  up  in  Sabbath  classes, 
or  at  the  fireside  of  hard-working  parents,  whose 
straitened  circumstances  required  that  even  in  his 
boyhood  he  should  strain  every  nerve  to  assist 
them  in  supplying,  by  his  labour,  the  wants  of  a 
young  and  numerous  family :  he  is  not  only  walk- 
ing steadfastly  and  firmly  himself  in  the  path  of 
improvement,  but  taking  the  lead,  and  urging  on 
his  fellow  men,  devoting  his  little  hour  of  Sabbath 
rest,  and  Sabbath  leisure,  not  to  mere  repose,  or 
sensual  indulgence,  but  gathering  his  fellow-men 
around  him  that  he  may  reason  with  them  out  of 


66  THE      PEARL      OF      DAYS. 

the  Scriptures,  or  calling  together,  for  instruction, 
a  class  of  ragged,  untrained  children,  or  wending 
his  way  to  yonder  wretched  garret,  or  that  damp 
cellar,  where  want,  disease,  and  vice  have  taken 
up  their  abode  together,  that  he  may  ascertain  why 
that  squalid  child  was  absent  from  the  Sabbath- 
school  class,  and  drop  a  word  of  encouragement  to 
the  boy,  or  address  a  word  of  warning  and  entreaty 
to  the  parents. 

Who  has  not  felt  convinced,  on  viewing  scenes 
like  these,  agencies  like  these  called  into  operation, 
that  it  is  the  weekly  rest  in  the  hands  of  living, 
active  religion,  which  is  destined  to  reach  the  very 
lowest  depths  of  society,  to  lift  humanity  from  the 
degrading  pollutions  of  vice,  and  from  the  servile 
dependence  and  helplessness  of  ignorance ;  and  that 
to  take  from  the  children  of  toil  the  Lord's  day, 
were  to  take  from  them  at  once  the  means  of  self- 
improvement,  and  also  the  opportunity  of  doing 
anything  towards  the  improvement  of  others? 

Let  those,  then,  who  seek  the  elevation  and 
refinement  of  the  labouring  population,  do  all  that 
in  them  lies  to  spread  among  them  the  knowledge 
of  true  religion  and  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath. 
Science  may  advance,  art  and  philosophy  instruct 
those  who  have  means  and  leisure  for  their  study; 
but  of  what  avail  would  they  ever  become  to 
labouring  men,  did  not  religion  by  her  Sabbath 
open  up  the  way  for  them?  Yes;  Christianity  is 
the    pioneer,  and    they  follow   in    its    footsteps. 


THE      PEARL      OF      DAYS.  67 

Besides,  what  is  man,  with  his  moral  nature 
unimproved?  His  intellect  may  be  powerful  and 
highly  cultivated ;  he  may  be  learned  in  art  and 
science,  acquainted  with  all  the  properties  of  mat- 
ter, and  with  every  system  of  philosophy,  ancient 
and  modern ;  he  may  be  capable  of  bringing  crea- 
tion, animate  and  inanimate,  into  subserviency  to 
his  pleasure  and  convenience;  the  lightnings  of 
heaven  may,  at  his  bidding,  fly  with  his  message ; 
and  the  hidden  treasures  of  the  earth  may  come 
forth  to  the  light  of  day.  At  the  command  of  art 
and  science,  starting  into  motion,  he  may  be  con- 
veyed almost  with  the  rapidity  of  thought,  to  his 
desired  destination;  iire,  water,  and  air,  may  ac- 
complish his  labour  for  him;  but,  if  his  religious 
feelings  are  dormant  or  misdirected,  or  if  his  moral 
nature  is  depraved,  he  is  but  the  more  capacitated 
to  spread  destruction  and  misery  around  him;  to 
be  miserable  in  himself,  and  a  curse  and  a  scourge 
to  mankind.  He  can  use,  with  more  ability,  the 
subtlety  and  the  arts  of  the  impostor;  he  can,  with 
more  dexterity,  forge  or  use  weapons  of  war,  or 
set  armies  in  battle  array;  or  he  may  be  a  more 
able  and  dangerous  leader  in  riot  and  insurrection ; 
a  more  dexterous  highwayman,  robber,  or  assassin; 
but,  without  the  cultivation  of  his  moral  nature  by 
religion,  he  is  neither  fitted  to  receive  happiness 
himself,  nor  impart  it  to  others. 

Religion  not  only  awakens  and  cultivates  man's 
intellect,  it  also  subdues  and  governs  his  animal 


68  THE      PEARL      OF      DAYS. 

propensities,  exalts  and  refines  his  moral  feelings, 
and  by  doing  so  redeems  him  from  much  present 
suffering,  and  opens  to  him  inexhaustible  treasures 
of  enjoyment  in  himself  and  others,  impelling  him 
to  exert  all  the  energies  of  his  nature,  not  in  seeking 
merely  his  own,  but  in  securing  the  well-being  of 
his  fellow-men,  making  him  more  willing  to  impart 
than  to  exact,  more  yielding  than  commanding, 
more  ready  to  bear  with  than  to  claim  forbearance 
— in  a  word,  writing  upon  his  heart,  in  living  char- 
acters, the  truth  that  it  is  more  blessed  to  give  than 
to  receive,  and  thus  putting  an  end  to  all  strife, 
emulation,  broils,  and  discord,  and  war  in  every 
form,  with  all  its  attendant  miseries. 

Yes;  let  those  who  long  for  that  blissful  period 
when  men  shall  be  united  in  one  universal  brother- 
hood, when  peace  shall  make  her  dwelling  among 
them,  and  good-will  fill  every  heart,  when  the  re- 
ward of  the  husbandman's  toil — the  yellow  fields 
of  waving  grain — shall  no  more  be  trampled  be- 
neath the  hoof  of  the  war-horse,  nor  his  hard-won 
earnings  wrung  from  his  hand,  to  keep  in  repair 
the  machinery  of  war — when  men  shall  no  more 
study  the  art  of  destroying  each  other,  but  shall 
beat  their  swords  into  ploughshares,  and  their 
spears  into  pruning-hooks;  let  those  who  long  for, 
and  labour  to  introduce  this  happy  era,  see  in  the 
Sabbath  the  oil  which  is  to  still  the  waves  of  hu- 
man strife — in  its  memorials,  its  influences,  its  ex- 
ercises, the  links  of  that  chain  of  love,  which  is 


THE      PEARL      OF      DAYS.  69 

yet  to  bind  heart  to  heart,  from  one  end  of  the 
earth  to  the  other,  and  encircle  the  whole  with  an 
unbroken  and  everlasting  bond  of  union. 

When  men  meet  together  on  the  first  day  of  the 
week,  to  break  bread,  to  surround  the  table  of  their 
Lord,  to  pass  from  hand  to  hand  the  cup  of  bless- 
ing, to  hear  the  words  and  study  the  character  of 
Him  who,  when  he  was  reviled,  reviled  not  again  ; 
when  he  suffered,  threatened  not,  but  committed 
himself  to  Him  who  judgeth  righteously ;  when 
they,  as  the  children  of  that  God  who  is  by  his  love 
manifested  in  the  gift  of  his  well-beloved  Son,  sub- 
duing the  enmity  of  his  enemies  and  reconciling 
them  to  himself,  meet  thus  together  on  the  first  day 
of  the  week,  not  to  hear  the  voice  of  a  human  ora- 
tor, nor  to  attend  to  the  words  of  a  faUible  instructor, 
but  to  gather  around  the  Scriptures  of  truth,  the 
word  of  the  living  and  true  God,  to  learn  his  will, 
that  with  willing  and  ready  feet  they  may  run  in 
the  way  of  his  commandments ;  when  they  study 
his  character,  as  he  there  reveals  himself,  that  their 
moral  nature  may  become  assimilated  to  his,  that 
they  may  be  like  their  Father  in  heaven,  who 
maketh  his  sun  to  shine  upon  the  evil  and  the 
good ;  what  must  be  the  result  ?  Who  will  hesi- 
tate to  say,  were  working  mon  all  to  meet  weekly, 
thus  to  keep  the  Lord's  day  as  appointed  by  Him- 
self, that  soon  the  oppressor  would  cease  out  of  the 
land ;  that  intemperance,  ignorance,  vice  of  all 
kinds,  with  all  the  poverty,  disease,  and  wretched- 


70  THE      PEARL      OP      DAYS. 

ness,  inseparably  connected  with  them,  would  be 
for  ever  banished,  and  peace,  descending  from  the 
skies,  whither  sin  had  caused  her  to  take  her  flight, 
again  dwell  with  redeemed  man  ? 

And  ever  as  we  approach  nearer  and  nearer  to 
such  a  use  of  the  weekly  rest,  and  ever  as  the  circle 
widens  of  those  who  feel  it  not  their  duty  only, 
but  their  dearest,  choicest  privilege,  thus  to  spend 
and  enjoy  this  day — do  we  approach  more  nearly 
to  the  long-predicted  age  of  millennial  glory,  to  the 
dawn  of  the  great  Sabbath  of  the  world,  that  Sab- 
bath of  rest  from  sin  and  suffering,  strife  and  op- 
pression, when  the  Lord  himself  shall  judge  the 
nations  in  righteousness,  when  the  lofty  looks  of 
man  shall  be  humbled,  and  the  haughtiness  of  man 
shall  be  brought  low,  and  the  Lord  alone  be  ex- 
alted. 

The  Lord's  day  can  never  be  trifled  with  but  at 
our  peril.  Like  every  appointment  of  our  benevo- 
lent Creator,  it  was  instituted  for  the  benefit  of  his 
creatures,  wisely  adapted  to  fulfil  its  purpose  ;  and 
he  who  sells  its  privileges  for  gain,  or  barters  them 
for  pleasure,  makes  a  poor  bargain  indeed.  Selfish- 
ness— narrow,  ungenerous,  short-sighted  selfishness 
— generally  outwits  itself;  and  this  is  especially  the 
case  with  employers,  who,  regardless  of  the  com- 
fort, health,  or  morality  of  the  employed,  engage 
them  in  labour  on  this  day,  and  thereby  deprive 
them  of  its  benefits.  The  interests  of  employers 
are  inseparably  connected  with  the  well-being  of 


THE      PEARL      OF      DAYS.  71 

the  employed.  The  labour  of  a  healthy,  steady, 
honest,  intelligent  workman,  is  of  double  value  to 
that  of  him  who  cannot  be  depended  upon,  whose 
moral  principles  are  unsound,  or  his  habits  irregu- 
lar ;  whose  mind  is  uncultivated,  or  his  body  debili- 
tated by  disease.  And  those  who  engage  men  in 
labour  or  business  upon  the  first  day  of  the  week, 
may  blame  themselves  if,  in  a  few  years,  they  find 
it  difficult  to  have  their  work  well  performed,  and 
discover  that  their  property  is  far  from  being  secure. 
The  Sabbath  has,  with  beautiful  propriety,  been 
called  "  the  poor  man's  day ;"  and  it  seems,  indeed, 
peculiarly  adapted  to  confer  important  advantages 
upon  him  ;  not  one  of  these,  however,  is  obtained 
at  the  expense  of  the  employers.  Its  blessings  are 
suited  to  all  classes,  but  the  working-classes  more 
especially  require  its  provisions  for  their  happiness. 
If  the  servant,  after  a  week  of  labour,  enjoys  a 
day  of  rest,  and  appears  in  the  meeting  of  the  dis- 
ciples of  Jesus,  clean,  comfortably  dressed,  and  re- 
spectable as  his  master,  it  is  that,  fresh  and  vigor- 
ous, he  may  with  hearty  good-will  enter  upon  the 
labours  of  another  week.  A  feeling  of  self-respect, 
and  a  sense  of  moral  obhgation,  raise  him  above 
eye-service,  or  anything  like  slight,  sluggish,  or  im- 
proper performance  of  labour;  a  feeling  which, 
though  it  cannot  stoop  to  cringing  servility,  would 
sooner  brook  disrespect  than  show  it  to  another, 
whether  employer  or  fellow-servant,  and  a  sense 
of  moral  obligation,  which  makes  him  faithful  in 


72  THE      PEARL      OF      DAYS. 

whatever  he  is  entrusted  with,  enables  him  to  un- 
derstand and  claim  his  own  rights,  and  induces 
him  without  reserve  to  give  to  all  others  their  due. 

The  Sabbath  interferes  with  the  interests  of  none 
but  those  who  live  by  the  ignorance,  superstition, 
vice,  and  degradation  of  mankind  ;  those  who  have 
their  wealth  from  Babylon  the  great,  who  traffic 
in  "  slaves  and  souls  of  men." 

Let  all,  then,  of  every  class  and  station,  examine 
this  subject ;  the  more  it  is  viewed  in  the  light  of 
truth,  the  more  its  importance  will  appear.  He 
who  is  desirous  of  the  well-being  of  his  fellow-men 
ought  not,  and  cannot  consistently,  pass  it  lightly 
by ;  and  even  he  Avhose  contracted  mind  looks  only 
at  his  personal  interest,  may  not  safely  slight  it. 


FINIS. 


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DATE  DUE                           ' 

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OAYLORO 

PRINTKO  IN  U.S.A. 

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7'7oi2  01003  3092 


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